


Broken Bonds

by Indulgenceahoy



Series: Broken Bonds [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Underfell, Alternate Universe - Underswap, Angst, Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Obsessive Behavior, PTDS, Suicide, Torture, Underfell Papyrus, Underfell Sans, Underswap Papyrus, Underswap Sans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 12:49:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 44,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7104148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indulgenceahoy/pseuds/Indulgenceahoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Like bones, there are all kinds of bonds.  Some are strong, some weak.  Some with seemingly no purpose. Like bones, bonds are what keeps one together.  What makes you whole.  Unfortunately, also like bones, they can all be broken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Broken Ribs

Humans, if you were to categorize them in really general and broad terms, were completely and undeniably:  weird.  If you were to be more specific with your terms though, - well, they would still be weird - but at least you would have a better idea of what you were dealing with.  The crux of the problem lay, however, in most of them not being _open_ or even accepting about their quirks.  As individuals, they seemed to like acting as if they were the one that was _not_ weird or, the only one that _was_ weird, and everyone else just didn’t understand.

 

And, well, shit, that was just a confusing way of looking at things.

 

Monsters, on the other hand, were all kinds of weird, but also a pretty much an open book about it.  For instance, there were monsters who liked to wash things, people - anything really.   They announced it.  They made sure you were aware of it.  If you didn’t want a bath that day, you’d better avoid any monster wanting to wash you.  So, if you somehow ended up wet and smelling nice, well that was just you not paying attention.   

 

Monsters were pretty straightforward.  You knew what made them tick. Or tock, as the case might be. You really didn’t have to think about it too much.  

 

Humans, on the other hand, waaay too much thinking.  It was exhausting.

 

Why was he thinking about humans anyway?

 

Oh right.

 

His younger bro had been going on, and on, about humans, and how fascinating they were, all day.  Swap Papyrus didn’t care about humans on most days.  Maybe on Thursdays, and possibly on Fridays if he had any left over caring - which rarely happened. That day happened to be a Wednesday if one took a calendar’s opinion seriously.  So it was no wonder when a long pause happened, Papyrus wasn’t particularly caught up with the conversation.  

 

“Hm…” he commented.  This was usually good enough for participation, but Swap Sans was not really in the mood to let him off the hook easily.

 

“This is IMPORTANT!” declared Sans, snapping the last syllable, like he always did when he wanted to emphasize something, and a single exclamation point just wouldn’t do. He walked backwards in front of him to make sure he had his full attention.  “Paps! Now that the barrier is gone, we’re free to go anywhere! Live among humans!

 

Sans spread his arms before him to mime all the freedom they had.  His small arms didn’t quite show the scope with it, but his smile and especially his eyes, proclaimed it.  Papyrus couldn’t help but smile at his excitement, even he didn’t quite share it.

 

“That’s cool.  If humans want to be around me, they can come live here” Papyrus looked around lazily at their surroundings.  They were walking through the woods, about 10 minutes away from their home in Snowdin.  (5 minutes, if Sans had it his way)  It was close to whatever passed for dusk in the Underground and about the only sounds around them was the crunching of the snow beneath their feet and Sans chattering.  All in all, it was all very peaceful.   

 

Sans huffed.  It wasn’t a secret that he been increasingly getting bored with life in Snowdin.  The fall of the Barrier and end of the “threat” of humans, derailed his dreams of becoming a Royal Guard.  This didn’t exactly discourage the small skeleton but it left him with no immediate goals.  Never the one to stay down for long, however, Sans concentrated on doing daily “good deeds” rounds instead. This basically meant that he went around town helping people and monsters alike.

 

Whether they liked it or not.

 

Sometimes he would get his brother involved.  The last few days being one of those “sometimes”.

 

A slime monster family had needed help moving some of their possessions to their new home at the Capital.  Normally, this would be a two day trip if you walked.  This time it took five, because, well slime monsters, especially slime monsters carrying their life possessions, were not exactly known for being fast. It had been a pleasant trip for the brothers though, and they got to see how their Underground world was changing with the Barrier gone.  

 

Not only were there humans in the Underground but also, monsters from alternate universes (a side effect from the fall of the Barrier nobody had expected).  Their presence was sparse compared to the new humans braving the Underground.  The openings to alternate universes were not very reliable and, really, not a lot of monsters were brave - or rather, foolish -  enough to go on visiting different worlds.

 

It came as a shock to _no one_ that the alternate monsters that they saw most commonly were Sans(es?).  There was just something about his little brother and his alternates, that just loved to court that kind of adventuring.  So far, however, his brother seemed to be in the minority when it came to levels of energy.  Most of the Sans-es they had met were closer to Papyrus in personality and energy conservation philosophy.  It was all really curious, and confusing and again, Papyrus didn’t care about the whole affair on most days.  

 

With one exception.  

 

And that exception had come in the form of his and his brother’s alternates from a world known as Underfell.  They had been the first alternates they ever met and, the only ones that had really left an impression on the tall skeleton.  Especially Underfell Sans.  

 

He, he, just _worried_ Swap Papyrus.

 

********

 

_He was short, maybe a little huskier and a younger brother like his Sans.  Unlike his brother, however, he was withdrawn and prone to anger.  He was very physical and had only seen him use magic once or twice.  It was obvious why too: he wasn’t very skillful at it.  His magic was chaotic and unfocused. It was almost as if he wanted to get hurt. Which set off all sorts of brotherly alarms in Papyrus since like most Sans, he only had 1 point of health._

 

_For the sake of preventing confusion, he had taken up to calling him Red instead of Sans, inspired by the color of his eyes.  His older brother, ended up with the nickname “Fell”, mainly because Swap Papyrus wasn’t excessively creative, and to a lesser extent because he wasn’t incredibly fond of the guy._

 

_Red had stumbled upon the rip that connected their worlds and ended up staying a couple of days with the Swap brothers, under the pretense that he needed a “vacation”.  Swap Sans, “Blue” as he ended up being called by his Underfell counterpart, had been beyond himself with excitement not only at the new visitor but at possibilities of whole new worlds to visit.  He pestered Red with questions and  dragged him around town showing him around.  When it looked imminent that Red was going to ask Blue to stop by punching him in the face, Papyrus intervened and took under his “wing”, so to speak, by asking him to sit next to him in the couch to watch tv._

 

_Swap Sans had not been too happy about it but soon had busied himself in the kitchen preparing dinner for everyone._

 

_“So… what’s your brother like?” had asked Papyrus completely ignoring the tv.  He was curious even if he wasn’t ready to admit it._

 

_He was ignored.  At least that what he thought until he realized that Red just couldn’t find the words right away._

 

_“He’s not you, that’s for sure” he finally said.  He smiled sarcastically which looked so wrong in a face that resembled his brother’s so much._

 

_Papyrus raised a mental eyebrow but didn’t ask any more questions._

 

_Red’s answer became painfully honest when he finally met Underfell Papyrus two days later.  The even taller skeleton was all sharp points and glowering.  His introduction to them was framed by a surprise bone attack while they were outside their home gathering wood.  Papyrus had almost been hit and Sans had stumbled backwards into a snowbank._

 

_Red immediately ran up to his brother to put an end to the attack.  Fell was obviously pissed that his brother had disappeared on him without warning.  Papyrus -could- understand that.  He would be upset if Sans did that to him.  Sure.  Although he was also sure he wouldn't go around attacking random monsters._

 

_The Fell brothers argued loudly and angrily.  It was … disconcerting to say the least.  Papyrus and Sans watched them in quiet disbelief.  They themselves had argued in the past, but never that intensely.  One would think that the Underfell brothers hated each other and that was just .... unthinkable._

 

_Out of the corner of his eye, Papyrus saw Sans unconsciously pull on his blue scarf to cover his mouth and nose to hide his distress.  He hadn’t seen him do that since he was a baby bones.   Monsters tended to think that Sans was way younger than he actually was because of his stature and cheery demeanor, when in reality, he was a young adult.  He went out of his way to act the way he believed an adult monster would and took pride in not showing weakness.  So, to see his brother upset like that, made Papyrus decide to do something about it._

 

_He patted his brother in the back reassuringly and started walking towards the arguing pair.  After a moment of doubt, Sans straightened his clothes and his back and followed his big brother’s example.  Their argument had devolved into insults and cursing by the time Papyrus decided to walk over.  He didn’t rush as he needed time to think what the hell he was going to say to these two._

 

_Then he saw Fell grab Red by the front of his shirt and throw him to the ground._

_“HEY!” Papyrus shouted then almost fell over as Sans rushed past him to stand in between Fell and Red._

 

_“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!” Sans yelled at Fell. HE’S YOUR BROTHER!”_

 

_“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?” asked Fell towering over Sans._

 

_“HEY, HEY!” exclaimed Papyrus reaching them and grabbing Fell by the arm. “Don’t talk to my brother like that”_

 

_“DON’T TOUCH ME!” yelled Fell jerking away from Papyrus.  “ I WILL END YOU!”_

 

_“Just calm down, ok buddy?  Nobody wants a fight”  said Papyrus trying to keep his voice calm. The last thing he wanted was to have to fight another version of himself.   He motioned towards Red who was being helped up by Sans  “Why are you attacking our friend here?”_

 

_“IT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! THIS IS BETWEEN ME AND THAT FOOL!” answered Fell his eyes glowing red._

 

_“It’s fine, it’s fine” said Red rubbing his head.  “It’s just the way my boss says “hello””  The sarcastic smile came out again.  It sent shivers down Papyrus’ spine._

 

_“IT’S FINE??” he asked  “I thought he was your bro?”_

 

_“Well, yeah …” Red waved a concerned Sans away.  He cleared his throat “He IS. He ... is also my boss”_

 

_“THAT’S RIGHT!” declared Fell “I AM THE GREAT AND INVINCIBLE PAPYRUS AND THIS FOOL IS MY UNDERLING”_

 

_“I… “ started Papyrus._

 

_“THAT’S HORRIBLE!” interrupted Sans “He’s your BROTHER! Why are you calling him an UNDERLING?!”_

 

_Fell narrowed his eyes at Sans.  “He hasn’t earned the right to call me his brother, yet”, he explained in a tone one would use when stating the most obvious thing in the world._

 

_Sans gasped. Red quickly stepped in front of him before he could say anything else.  “Yes, yep, that’s just the way it is”_

 

_Sans looked ready to argue but a look from both Red and Papyrus shut him down.  Instead he folded his arms in front of him and muttered under his breath about how this whole situation was just wrong._

 

_“Look, this all sounds … uh … “Great” … However, I … WE … would really appreciate it if you didn’t go around hitting your brother”  said Papyrus letting his right eye glow orange for emphasis on the you-really-don’t-want-to-piss-me-off subtext of his statement._

 

_Fell regarded him without breaking eye contact.  “Who are you?” He asked suspiciously._

 

_“Apparently, I’m you from another timeline.  Like your cousin, twice removed?”  said Papyrus smiling faintly._

_When in doubt. Joke._

 

_“You’re me?”_

 

_“Yeah! Don’t you see the resemblance?”_

 

_“Hardly….”_

 

_It took a lot explaining but eventually Fell seemed to accept the fact that he just wasn’t in another part of his homeworld but rather in a completely different world with its own timeline._

 

_He wasn’t thrilled about it but hey, at least he wasn’t yelling or attacking anybody anymore._

 

_In the end, he declared that him and his Sans needed to get back to their own world immediately and, to the Swap brother’s chagrin, the smaller skeleton agreed.   Papyrus had the suspicion that he was just doing it to avoid another confrontation.   He knew he couldn’t force him to stay.  Doing so would make him no better than Fell.  However, he made the suggestion that they could come back and visit anytime, and while this got a scoff from Fell, Red smiled and, Papyrus was happy to see that it was genuine._

 

_There were other visits.  Sporadic due to the nature of the portal between their worlds.  Sometimes it would stay stable for days, weeks even, then it would fade and disappear for equally random periods of time._

 

_The majority of the visits involved Underfell Sans coming to their world by himself.  None of these visits lasted very long and Papyrus was pretty sure that Underfell Papyrus didn’t know about most of them. His little brother was always happy to see his alternate, but it was obvious that Red tended to gravitate towards Papyrus, so he left them alone whenever possible._

 

_“I think he’s just lonely” he said once “I bet his brother is lonely, too”_

 

_The Swap brothers only visited Underfell once, and that visit had been cut short due to the fact that Blue had almost gotten himself eaten.  It had actually been one of those situations that would’ve been hilarious if it hadn’t been so terrifying._

 

_So the visits stayed pretty one sided._

 

_As far as Papyrus knew._

 

_**********_

 

“Papyrus” he heard Sans say before he almost bumped into him.  

 

“Look” Sans said pointing towards something in front of them..  

 

Papyrus looked up and saw the silhouette of a tall skeleton standing at the beginning of Snowdin’s main road.  

 

“Is that Fell?” Sans asked then he leaned forward and a big grin appeared on his face  “IT IS!! HI!!!”

 

Sans took off running towards Fell.  Papyrus raised an eye ridge.  Red was nowhere in sight. How long had it been since he had last seen him?  One, two weeks? Why was Fell here?

 

A loud cracking sound reverberated through the quiet landscape. The world became tinted in red.

 

Time slowed down as Papyrus realized that the sound had come from his brother being hit with a red bone attack on the left side of his head and arm.  It had been so sudden and vicious that it had sent him flying into a tree.  His small body went limp and slid down to the snowy ground.

 

“SANS!!” yelled Papyrus as he ran towards him but a barricade of red bones taller than him came out of the ground to stop him.  They manifested all around him, caging him in.

 

He turned to confront their attacker.   “FELL!! WHAT THE FU….”

 

“Just like him, he’s weak on his left side” said Underfell Papyrus walking calmly towards Sans unmoving body. “Gonna have to fix that”

 

“STAY AWAY FROM HIM!!” yelled Papyrus manifesting his Blasters.  He may be trapped but his magic certainly wasn’t.   “YOU LAY ONE FINGER ON HIM AND … ARGH!!”

 

His chest exploded in pain as ribs and vertebra broke and fractured.  He looked down and saw that three long bones had come up from the ground and skewered him through his rib cage barely missing his soul.  He hadn’t even seen Fell look at him, much less move his command hand.  How…?  

 

Papyrus closed his eyes trying to regain whatever control he had left.  He shuddered in agony as he tried to pull free from the bones, but they were too long for him to be able to do so without help.  Stars danced in front of his eyes.  Unconsciousness was only a few breaths away.  

 

He lurched his right hand forward, releasing a wild attack from one of his Blasters.  He missed and was glad about it when he realized that Fell was now carrying an unconscious Sans in his arms. The left side of his face and his arm peppered with nasty long cracks.

 

“LET .. HIM … GO!” Papyrus rasped between breaths.  His Blasters dissipated.  His magic no longer able to sustain them and keep him alive at the same time.  He desperately tried to get a read on his little brother’s condition.   His hp was down to half.  He was seriously injured but at least he was not fallen.  

 

“Don’t worry.  He won’t die” Underfell Papyrus said commanding his attention back “Unless you do something foolish, like coming after him”

 

Papyrus tried to free himself again to no avail “WHAT … ARE YOU … TALKING ABOUT??  WHY…”

 

“Why?” repeated Fell.  He looked down at Sans and for a moment, his features seemed to soften only to sharpen again the next.  “You could say I’m collecting what is owed to me.   He said he I could be his brother too…”  

 

Fell laughed without mirth.  “If … if only he hadn’t met you two…”

 

Papyrus could feel his legs losing the strength to keep him upright.  Somewhere in the distance he heard someone shout in alarm.   “I… I… don’t understand …. Fell … please…”

 

Fell sneered “Blue is coming with me.  I will train him and make him as great as me.  I won’t make the same mistakes I made with that fool.  If you know what’s good for you and him, you will not follow us.  If I see you anywhere near him, I will kill him, then you”

 

_That fool._  Red.  

 

“Where … where IS HE?” gasped Papyrus “What did … YOU DO TO HIM?”

 

“I did nothing” said Fell.  He held Sans’ body tighter and turned around to leave.  

 

“FELL!!” demanded Papyrus.  Tears of frustration and fear streaming down his face.

 

Underfell Papyrus walked into the forest and just before the shadows engulfed him, he turned around one last time.

 

“I did nothing” he repeated.  

 

“He killed himself”

 


	2. Broken Trust

Consciousness to him like pieces in a puzzle.

 

The first piece was pain.  It crawled all around his head and body.  It was especially bad on his left side.  It felt like it was made of broken glass that at the tiniest intention of movement, sent shards flying through the rest of his being. 

 

It took him a couple of tries, but he managed to lift his head a little bit without feeling like he was going to pass out again.  When he did this, his body recentered itself and he became aware that he was sitting down, not lying down, as he originally assumed.  

 

The second piece was darkness.  He tried opening his eyes and wasn’t able to.  He was blindfolded.  Something was tied tight around his head, keeping him in darkness. 

 

The third piece was binding.  He couldn’t move his arms or legs.  He was bound to whatever he was sitting down on.  His wrists were tied to the arms on this ... chair - he guessed, while his legs were tied by the ankles to the front of it.  The weight of heavy rope around his torso became apparent as the only thing keeping him upright.  

 

Fear dumped the rest of the pieces into place.  Wherever he was, he was hurt and trapped.  He pulled against his restraints, only to be punished by his own body with a wave of nausea brought about the intense pain in his head. 

 

He gasped, finding it difficult to take deep breaths with the ropes coiling tightly around his chest.  His mouth was dry and he was very thirsty.  

 

He stretched the fingers on his right hand, testing the limits of his movement.  He found that he couldn’t reproduce that with his left without him crying out in pain.  The sound of his own voice, however, brought to mind that he might not be alone.  

 

“Hello?” he ventured. His voice was raspy and weak.  He cleared his throat.  “HELLO?” he tried in a louder tone.   

 

He strained to listen for any kind of answer.  Maybe some hint of movement?  

 

Silence.  

 

“Somebody, please?” he asked again unable to bring his voice to shouting level anymore.  

 

Nobody came. 

 

He felt tears come down his cheeks. It took all he had not to lose himself in complete and utter panic.  Instead, he tried to remember the events that had put him in this position.  He truly couldn’t remember what had happened.  The last thing he remembered was walking home with his brother.  

 

Then …

 

Then he saw someone.  He was happy to see this someone.  

 

Fell!.  It was Fell!. 

 

Then … nothing.   

 

No … he was picked up by someone …  

 

…

 

To his left, the sound of a door lock unlatching.  He snapped his head in that direction causing a wave of dizziness to hit him.  Despite this, he tried as best as he could to keep alert and follow the sounds.   

 

Someone opened the door and closed it behind them.   He heard to lock latch again.  Then steps approaching him.  

 

“Hello?” he said again.  The steps stopped.  They probably hadn’t realized that he was awake.   Then the steps resumed and stopped in front of him.  Something metallic was put on the floor.  

 

“Um … can you...urgh!” his face was forcefully grabbed by the chin making him tear up again.  They tilted his head to the right and then to the left.  A long finger pocked the still healing cracks on his left cheek, causing him to yelp.  

 

“Be quiet” he heard someone say.  

 

Fell! That was Fell’s voice!.  

 

“Fell?  Fell, why are …”  A slap on his right cheek send his entire dark world reeling. 

 

“I said BE QUIET.  You will not speak unless I tell you you can” Fell growled.  

 

Why.

 

Why.

 

WHY?

 

Sans gritted his teeth as his face was forced forward again.  Keeping consciousness was becoming a losing battle, but he wouldn’t give in to it.  He had to know why this was happening.  It had to be a nightmare.  It just had to.

 

“Open your mouth” commanded Fell.  Sans gritted his teeth even tighter resentful at the rough treatment.  Fell’s fingers dug at his facial wounds again making him gasp.  “OPEN IT!” 

 

Sans complied and something cold and wet was put inside.  He recognized it immediately.  It was a piece of unisicle.  The small skeleton gratefully consumed it, the healing effects of the monster made food alleviating some of his pain.    However, he had only been given a small portion of it.  He wondered if he was going to receive more.  After waiting for a few seconds, he decided to at least not be ungracious about the gesture.

 

“Thank y…” 

 

SLAP.

 

This time there was no stopping it.  Sans started sobbing uncontrollably.  He was confused, scared and in a lot of pain.  He didn’t know where he was or why he was there.  

 

“Weak.  Can’t even follow simple instructions”  commented Fell.  

 

“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!! WE’RE FRIENDS!!” snapped Sans suddenly finding his voice in his agony.  He braced himself for another slap but instead he heard Fell get up and walk a few paces away.  Sans let out a shuddering breath, his energy was waning fast. 

 

“We … we’re friends … right?” he said quietly “Why … why are you … so mad at me?”  

 

No answer.  

 

“Fell, please, you’re hurting me.  Please … let me go.  I… I … I’m not mad”  Sans head was swimming  “We can talk … like before”  

 

One, two, three steps and Sans mouth was suddenly full of cloth and long piece of leather tied tightly around his head held it place.  

 

“Mmmfff!” protested Sans.  

 

“Until you learn to follow my instructions.  To. The. Letter.  That gag will stay in place”  Said Fell mere inches from his face.  “I’m doing this for your own good.  If you don’t learn to listen to me, you will not survive here”  

 

Underfell Papyrus straightened up.  He grimaced at the sight of his captive’s tears.  

 

“I’ll be back later to see if your attitude has improved” he said as if he was a parent scolding a child.  

 

Sans heard him leave the room and lock the door.  

 

He screamed.

 

******


	3. Broken Heart

 

Swap Papyrus woke up slowly from a dreamless sleep.  As the room he was in came into focus, he realized that it was unfamiliar to him.  It was too clean and orderly.  Exactly the kind of room he hated being in.   A gentle, cold breeze came in through an open window and judging from the amount of light coming through it, it was probably around midday.  

 

He looked to his right and saw a beeping machine.  The kind that one uses to keep track of vital signs, if his memory served him well.  He followed the wires coming out of it with his eyes and saw that they were attached to his body.  So by elimination, since there was nobody else in the room, he guessed those were HIS vital signs the machine was tracking.  He was alive.  Ok.  Good to know.

 

He blinked at the ceiling wondering lazily where he was.  He felt very heavy and sore.  Had he been sick? They had been travelling, right? Maybe this was an Inn.  Surely Sans would know. 

 

Sans …

 

“SANS!” Papyrus sat up as visions of his little brother being hit by Fell’s attack flooded back into his conscious mind.  He double over in pain as not quite fully healed broken ribs and a damaged back reminded him that he had been injured as well.    He fell unto his right side still holding his midsection, the wires attaching him to the machine coming loose. 

 

An alarm went off as signal was lost.  Papyrus heard steps rushing over and the door to his room burst open.  Papyrus automatically looked up to see who the new monster in the room was but saw no one,  then, as he continued to hear someone shuffling over, he realized that he should’ve looked lower.  

 

A small horned monster came around the corner of his bed and quickly clambered up a small step ladder and turned off the machine. Then they moved the ladder up to the bed and adjusted their glasses giving him a quick onceover.

 

“You almost gave me a heart attack!” they said in a high pitched voice.  “I thought we had lost you!  Can you lay on your back?”

 

Papyrus nodded and carefully repositioned his body with some help of the small monster.  The monster then proceeded to examine him quickly and efficiently, making quick comments to itself. 

 

“Good, good” they finally said out loud “You didn’t re-break anything.  Try to be more careful, it's still going to be at least a couple of days before I recommend getting out of bed and walking about” 

 

“I can’t stay here, I have to go… I...”  Papyrus tried to get up again but the small monster stopped him by pushing him back down with a weight with Papyrus would’ve never guessed from the small body.  

 

“Woah, no.  You need to give your body time to heal” they looking at him directly in the eyes.  “I promise you, you’re lucky you’re alive and can move as much as you can now.  When they first brought you here four days ago, I thought I would have to collect your dust by the next morning”

 

“FOUR .. DAYS?” Papyrus felt his heart sink “I been out for four days!?”

 

“Yes.  From what I heard you got into a fight?”

 

“I … I was attacked, yes” Papyrus ran a bony hand through his brow.   Four days.  A lot could happen in four days. 

 

“Attacked?”

 

“Have you seen my brother?  Do you know where he is?”

 

“Oh yes, somebody mentioned that you had a brother when I asked for next of kin” the small monster pulled out a notepad from a pocket in their coat to look a hurriedly scribbled notes “They said that he left with you on a trip to the Capital but they haven’t seen him since ...  I was hoping you could tell me where he was so I could notify him of your condition …. I guess you don’t know where he is neither.  Did you say you were attacked? By whom?”

 

Papyrus opened his mouth to answer but changed his mind.  It would just take too long to explain.  He had more pressing matters.  He waved his hand exasperated.

 

“Nevermind that.  My brother is missing.  I can’t be in this bed.  I need to go find him!!”  He started trying to get again, grimacing at the painful protests from his body.  

 

“Hey, woah” said the doctor “You’re going to hurt yourself all over again and then you won’t be any good to anybody, including your brother”  

 

Regretfully Papyrus had to agree.  Sitting up was a painful chore, nevermind walking … running into Underfell and punching Fell into the next alternate world.  He flopped back down with an angry grunt.  

 

The small monster let out a sigh of relief.  “Let’s start over again, shall we?” they said “I’m Doctor Pewter”

 

“Hey” said Papyrus distractedly.  He was usually a fairly polite monster but at that moment he couldn’t give a flying fuck.

 

“And you’re Papyrus, right?” she said reading her notes again.  

 

“Right.”  Papyrus rocked his body in frustration “Doc, I CAN’T stay here!” 

 

“I know, I know.  Your brother.”  She said writing something down.  She gave him a sympathetic look.  “Papyrus is obvious that you’re very worried about him.  If I could, I would make it so you could go looking for him right now! But you’re still badly injured.   Do you believe he’s in trouble? Maybe we can arrange for other monsters to look for him”

 

_ In trouble?  IN trouble?? He is probably DEAD!  _ Thought Papyrus.  All he could manage vocally was a sound of distress.  He  _ knew _ that the doctor was only trying to help.  He  _ knew _ he probably looked crazy.

 

He  _ knew _ he had to be the one to confront Fell.  

 

Fell’s attack had been like nothing he seen before. It had been too powerful.  Too vicious. It wasn’t like Fell was a gentle monster and his attacks were always a show of force and dominance, but he wasn’t the type of monster who would suckerpunch someone, like he did with Sans.  

 

However briefly, he had felt something alien contaminating his magic.  

 

Regardless of what it was, he wouldn’t send a bunch of unsuspecting monsters, not only into another world (if he even got that far into convincing them that it was a thing) but to confront a monster whose magic could go out of control.  

 

Besides, nobody,  _ NOBODY  _ messed with his little brother and got away with it.  He would bring down Fell himself even if he had to crawl all the way to Underfell to do so.  

 

Sans had to be ok.  He had to.  Fell himself said that he wouldn’t die.  He wanted to keep him as his new little brother.  

 

His new little brother.  

 

_ “He killed himself” _

 

It wasn’t true.  No it couldn’t be true.  Red … Red wouldn’t do that.  

 

He wracked his brain trying to remember the last time he saw him.  What they talked about.  Were there hints?  Did he miss Red’s silent pleas for help because he was just too damn obtuse?

 

“Papyrus?” he heard the doctor call. 

 

_ What did they talk about?? _

 

*****

_ Red wasn’t much for regular “small” talk.. _

 

_ He liked to rant. _

 

_ He was quite good at it too once he got going and he was comfortable around you.   _

 

_ It was like some of the comedic stand ups he had seen over at the MTT Resort.  If, somehow, Red learned to control his temper and not start a fist fight at the smallest possible sign of a heckle, he could be one of the best.   _

 

_ But Red wasn’t interested in controlling his temper and he was just happy to have Papyrus and, sometimes Sans, as his audience.  At least they knew to keep their mouths shut. _

 

_ That particular day, he had been especially “ranty”.  Not his usual funny and self referential stuff but seriously “ranty”.  Bad mood on a rainy afternoon and you’re all out of chocolate, ranty.  Everything they did was aggravating him. At one point, Papyrus had suggested they go fishing up by the river.  Not that he expected they would catch anything, but maybe the activity would calm his friend down.   _

 

_ Sans packed them lunch even though where they were going was only a few minutes away.   Perhaps it had been his friendly way of saying “Don’t come back until he cleans up his language” _

_ They chose a spot under a shady tree without much snow under it and prepared to set out their lines.  Once they were properly baited with socks, Papyrus jammed both their poles in the soft ground, stretched then laid down in the shade sighing contentedly.  Underfell Sans sat besides him, staring at their poles.  _

 

_ He was silent for about 5 seconds.  _

 

_ “WHY THE FUCK ARE WE USING SOCKS?!” he erupted.   _

 

_ Papyrus opened one eye to look at him.   _

 

_ “I thought you didn’t like to eat fish”  _

 

_ “Yeah, I don’t!” _

 

_ “Then, what do you care what we use for bait?”  Papyrus closed his eyes again.  “Worse case scenario, some fish with cold feet gets new socks”  _

 

_ “THEN WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?? IT’S COLD AS BALLS AND …” _

 

_ “Just quiet down and take a nap, you’ll scare all of those poor fish with cold feet.  Besides, it will be good for you”  _

 

_ “A NAP??!!  I’M NO CHILD THAT NEEDS A NAP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY!”  _

 

_ “Shhh shhhh” with his eyes still closed Papyrus patted him on the arm.   _

 

_ “OH, FUCK YOU” snapped Red and started to get up.   _

 

_ “Sans, you lay down and take a nap” said Papyrus opening his eyes. His tone was not unfriendly but he saw Red freeze at the mention of his real name.  The younger skeleton then slowly laid down and put his hands on his chest.  He didn’t look comfortable at all.    _

 

_ Moreover, he looked really unhappy.  _

 

_ “You ok?” asked Papyrus.   _

 

_ Red was silent for a moment.  Papyrus, expected another sarcastic outburst but instead he got the tiniest  _

 

_ “Yeah” _

 

_ Ever. _

 

_ “You sure?” _

 

_ “Yeah”  _

 

_ “You don’t sound very sure”  _

 

_ “YEAH I’M FUCKINSTASTIC!  I’M SO SURE I’M OK, I’LL PROBABLY START DANCING ON YOUR HEAD” _

 

_ “Oh ok.  Just making sure” said Papyrus and closed his eyes again.  “If you are taking requests, I’m particularly fond of tap dancing”  _

 

_ Silence again.   _

 

_ Then… _

 

_ “I just hate it when you sound like him”   _

 

_ Papyrus opened his eyes.  Oh. _

 

_ “I MEAN, of course, you sound like him.  You’re HIM.  Kinda”  Red gestured with his hands exactly the same way Blue did when he was excitedly explaining something to you.  “You’re the him, he would be if things … were different”  _

 

_ Papyrus nodded. He really didn’t want to pry.  This wasn’t a new topic and he always found it uncomfortable whenever Red got into comparing him with his older brother.  He did not want to be measuring stick that Fell was compared to as a big brother.   _

 

_ Red sighed.   _

 

_ “ANYWAY.  THIS IS STILL BORING”  _

 

_ “That’s true, but also very relaxing.  You’ll feel better after a nap” said Papyrus, relieved that Red had changed the subject himself.  They could always talk later.   _

 

_ Red grunted but closed his eyes as well.  Soon they were both asleep.   _

 

_ Their nap didn’t last long, however, as it turned out that river fish really liked socks.   _

 

_ In the end, a werewolf bought their bountiful catch at a very cheap price and both enjoyed a drink at Grillbry’s before Red decided it was time to head back.  _

 

_ Red really did look to be in better spirits.  He waved awkwardly at Papyrus as he went into the cave that contained the portal back to Underfell.   _

 

_ “Let’s go fishing again next time” said Papyrus.   _

 

_ “Over my dead body” said Red smiling then he jumped into the portal.   _

 

_ ***** _

 

Papyrus hands clamped over his mouth.  He started shaking uncontrollably as emotions cascaded all over his being. 

 

How did he miss it?  Why hadn’t he been a better friend?  He should’ve asked.  He should’ve gone and made more of an effort to be friends with Fell.  Maybe, just maybe …

 

“Papyrus!” 

 

Papyrus looked at the doctor through tear filled eyes.  

 

“I KILLED MY FRIEND!”


	4. Broken Intentions

“Kill or be Killed”.  

 

The Underfell monsters had always lived and died by those words.  It was a harsh world where only the strong (or very clever) survived.  Being nice, was frowned upon and discouraged. It would either get you killed, or taken advantaged of.  It was everyone for themselves.

 

In essence, Underfell Papyrus agreed with this way of thinking.

 

It was a perfectly logical way of thinking.  There was one exception though: Family.

 

You held on to family. Family was part of your strength.  Your true “militia” sort of speak.

 

At least that was Papyrus’ philosophy.   If you couldn’t trust family, then trust was not worth considering.  A useless notion.  

 

_You trusted Red…_

 

_... but he didn’t trust you._

 

Papyrus sneered at his reflection on the glass bottle in front of him.  Around him, the hustle and bustle of Grillby’s felt like the buzzing of flies around rotten fruit.  He had needed to get out the house to run some errands, to keep the resemblance of everything still being perfectly normal in his stronghold  just in case some of the other lesser monsters started getting nosy about his change … in circumstances.  

 

So far, nobody had asked him about his brother.  This was not surprising initially, considering that most tended to ignore his brother’s existence.  Sans had never been good about presenting himself.  Always hunched over, making himself smaller than he was.  A non threat.    Papyrus had expected, however, for questions to be raised after days of his brother missing his guard post duties.  After all, the Captain of the Royal Guard was very strict about protocol.  Before, whenever Sans had slacked off and missed work, he had been disciplined by both the Captain and himself.

 

But nobody had come looking for him, so far.  And it been about almost a week since … since …

 

Papyrus cleared his throat.  

 

He turned around on his stool to look at the crowd gathered at the bar.  Nobody was looking his way.  Nobody cared.

 

Papyrus had kept up with his own duties and guard rounds.  Perhaps, monsters were just assuming that Sans was doing them with him.  Papyrus had missed the last three days though, under the pretense of "special training".  The Captain had been strangely accommodating.   Two of those days he missed were because, when he had gone to Underswap to see the Swap brothers, he had not expected them to be away.

 

Typical.

 

_He had broken - allowed - himself into their house.   He wasn’t really sure why._

 

_He could’ve just left._

 

_He sat on their couch hating their living room._

 

_He looked at their clean kitchen with clear signs that it was used often._

 

_He looked at the pictures of the wall and hated them._

 

_He could’ve just … left._

 

_Yet he stayed._

 

_His own house was a less desirable destination._

 

_He was glad that he had the foresight to bring a vial with him.  He had needed just a little bit.   Just to help with the waiting.  The memories._

 

_Dreams were never a good thing for him, but now that Sans had decided to …_

 

_The little vials always took the edge off._

 

_Maybe he would take a little more, just a little bit more._

 

_This house was especially irritating.  Why did Sans kept coming back to this place?_

 

_How many times HAD he come back to this place?_

 

_They were a perfect unit before.  Well at least HE was.  Sans needed work but he was progressing.  Sans would’ve been … dea ... gone … long ago if it wasn’t for his boss._

 

_If he … if he just had not come here._

 

_-Fuck them-._

 

_As second day of waiting rolled around, he decided to leave several times throughout the day.  Eventually, he did leave when he realized that it was going to be night soon._

 

_He was at the edge of town when he heard familiar chattering._

 

_He saw them long before they saw him._

 

_Blue was walking in front of Swap, not really paying attention to his surroundings.  Not even scanning for potential danger.  Just talking and being noisy as usual._

 

_-So weak-_

 

_Swap wasn’t paying attention either.  As the older he should’ve been correcting such undisciplined behavior from Blue._

 

_-So Foolish-_

 

_Swap didn’t deserve a brother.  That lazy, unaware fool didn’t deserve a family if he wasn’t going to watch out for them._

 

_-He would just have to take over then-_

 

_Blue turned around on one foot and spotted him immediately.  He informed Swap of his presence._

 

_-Good.  Good scouting.  He knew that Blue had potential-_

 

_Then Blue took off running towards him shouting a greeting._

 

_\- No! No! You’re leaving yourself wide open, you fool!  Sans! -_

 

_-Teach him a lesson-_

 

_He summoned his special bone attack._

 

 

*******

 

He laced his long gloved fingers together and rested his chin on them.  As he did this, he noticed that they were trembling.  He balled his right hand into a fist and covered with the palm of his left.  He had no time for this.  He couldn’t possibly need another dose so soon …

 

“So where’s the little one?”

 

“Fuck off Grillby” said Papyrus without looking up at the tall purple flame monster.  Of all the monsters to ask about his brother…

 

“You wish.  But seriously, where is he?”  Grillby asked leaning over the counter so he could talk to Papyrus somewhat privately.  “I miss talking to him”  

 

“Talking” meaning rather crude and aggressive flirting and grabbing from Grillby.  Sans hated it and avoided Grillby’s if he could help it.  Unfortunately, Papyrus liked the place, and many times Sans found himself cornered by the bartender, who was twice his size, in one of the many dark spots in the restaurant/bar,  while Papyrus enjoyed a drink.  

 

Papyrus never let it get “too far”, of course, but always admonished his brother for not being able to take care of himself.  After all, a good Papyrus minion should at least be able to handle a monster like Grillby.  

 

He had never been more proud than that night when Sans finally stood up to Grillby.   He sent him flying across his restaurant.  The burnt spot was still visible on the far wall.  

 

“He’s training” said Papyrus balling his hand even tighter.  

 

“Right.  I bet he’s being shy because he threw me across the room. Tell him I’m not mad” said Grillby winking  “In fact, it was rather exhilarating.  Didn’t know he had it in’im”

 

“OF COURSE he has it “in him”” exclaimed Papyrus.  “He’s my …”

 

“Minion” completed Grillby rolling his eyes.  “We have all heard it before, RIGHT BOYS?” He shouted over Papyrus’ head to the rest of the restaurant.

 

Everyone shouted in agreement.  Most because _everyone else_ was doing it and they didn’t want to be left out.

 

Grillby laughed uproariously.  “Everyone knows how GREAT Papyrus is...”

 

“Shut up”

 

“YOU TELL US EVERY TIME YOU COME HERE!” Grillby spread his arms to encompass the entire establishment.  

 

“Shut ...up”

 

“I’M THE GREAT AND INVINCIBLE PAPYRUS ... “ Grillby said in a really bad imitation of Papyrus’ voice “OH, AND THIS LITTLE CUTE THING FOLLOWING ME AROUND IS MY ITTY BITTY MINION…”

 

“SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!!” shouted Papyrus.  Giant red bones sprouted from the ground barely missing some of the patrons.  The entire restaurant exploded in a chaos of magic attacks, shouting and monsters being thrown out of windows.  

 

After a while, the door front opened and Papyrus walked out dusting off his somewhat torn clothing.  Behind him, the fighting continued.  Maybe next time the bartender would know to keep his mouth shut.  

 

His hands were shaking even more and he did feel somewhat lightheaded.  

 

If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.  Goddammit.  

 

He decided to take a quick fix then go check on Blue.  Surely, he must’ve understood the situation he was in by now.  Papyrus couldn’t risk him going off and trying to _make friends,_ like he usually did.  That good for nothing brother of his, had done an extremely poor job on teaching him on how to deal with strange monsters.  Every time he had come to “visit”, Papyrus had spent most of the time keeping other monsters from from finding out about him or, essentially, destroying him.

 

That Underswap world of his couldn’t possibly be that diluted.  That safe. To encourage such naive behaviors.  

 

Humans lived there now, if Blue's chattering was to be taken seriously.  

 

It just didn’t make sense.

 

******

 

Papyrus felt much better a half an hour later.  He had ended up taking more than he had planned out his fourth to last vial.   He would have to be more careful rationing the rest.  He doubted he would get the chance to go to the Hotlands anytime soon while he was in the middle of training.  

 

He collected some more isicle from his fridge before heading towards the shed he was keeping Blue in.  He hadn’t been quite ready to go into Sans’ room and prepare it for his new recruit.  

 

That would have to wait.

 

He hated using isicles.  He felt it promoted weakness. So him and Sans had used them very sparingly in the past to train their bodies to not depend on them to heal themselves. 

 

He walked over to the shed and went in.  It was late afternoon and the place was already dark, so he had to lit a gas lamp kept next to the door.  

 

This time there were no “hellos” like that morning.  Then he remembered that he had gagged him.  There were no other sounds, like struggling or whimpering. He must've learned his lesson.  

 

_-Good-_

 

The lamp showered the room in light.  His eyes immediately fell on Blue’s motionless form.  He had toppled the chair over and was laying on his side.

 

Shit … shit, shit, shit. Papyrus crouched down next to Blue and as soon as he touched his face he realized he was burning up.

 

He checked on his hp and saw that it was down to .40  

 

- _Fuck_ -

 

- _Why is he so weak?_ \-  

  
Sans could’ve easily taken a hit like the one Blue had and only be out for a few hours, maybe a day.

 

He had a lot of work to do.  

 

He undid the binds and removed the gag and blindfold.  Blue did not react to any of this, even when Fell moved his damaged arm or inspected the cracks in his head.  He might as well been handling a rag dummy.

 

He laid him down on his back and lifted his head and shoulders with his left arm.  He coaxed a piece of isicle in his mouth.  Blue gagged on it a little bit, but ended up consuming it.  Despite his hang ups about using healing monster food, Papyrus gave him the entire isicle little by little.  Blue’s HP went up but he didn’t wake up and the fever didn’t let up.  He would need something stronger.

 

Fell sighed exasperated.   He should just go and toss Blue in the same river that Sans....

 

Sans….

 

 _-Stupid.  Idiot.-_  

 

He was glad he _offed_ himself.

 

He did nothing wrong.  

 

He lifted Blue’s body and hugged it fiercely.  

 

He did nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited on 6/10/16: Just corrected some phrasing and fixed some of the punctuation. Hope it reads better.


	5. Broken Dreams

Dreams are lies that cannot lie.  

 

In the context of a dream, everything is true and possible.  You can do things like fly or convince a rock to move for you.  

 

It's actually quite wonderful.

 

But sometimes it isn’t.  Because, again, dreams cannot lie.  

 

And truth can be the most painful notion of all.

 

And the truth for Blue, at that specific point in time was that he was alone.  

 

An Echo flower loomed over him as he lay in a field of blue grass.  He had never seen one so big.  It was quite lovely.  He loved echo flowers.  He often would leave encouraging messages in them whenever him and Paps visited Waterfall.  He lifted his hand and touched one of the petals to see what message this one had in it.  

 

“I did nothing” it cried.

 

Well.  That wasn’t very … nice?  He should change it so the next monster got a happier note.  He really should come up with something really good.

 

He thought.  And he thought and thought and though.  

 

Time dragged on.

 

Funny.  The Sensational Sans usually had no trouble with finding the right words to say to someone or anything, really.  But his head felt muddled and slow.  Maybe he had a cold.  Maybe he just needed a nap.  Hahaha, Paps would surely think so.

 

“Papyrus” he said softly suddenly wondering where his brother was.  

 

The flower tilted its head towards him.  Oh, perhaps the flower knew.  

 

“Where’s Paps?” he asked.  

 

The flower came closer and shimmered out of sight.

 

 _“Well, that was rude”_ Blue though and closed his eyes and opened them again.  This time he was somewhere else.  Somewhere really hot.  His body was nothing but ache and sweat.  Someone was carrying him, but their face was too blurry.  

 

“He’s not here” the someone said.  “You won’t see him again”

_Oh._

 

Blue closed his eyes again.

 

He was back with the blue flower. It was smaller.  He felt like he should cry but was unable to do so.  He was empty.  Too tired.  

 

The flower then leaned over and dropped some dew in his mouth.  

 

“Mmhh” said Blue enjoying the dew but then remembered that he must be quiet or it would hurt.  He closed his mouth tight.  The flower leaned over again.  Thorny vines came out of its body and forced his mouth open.  More dew was administered making him cough and retch.  

 

He grabbed onto the vines and fought them.  “Let me GO!!”  

 

The vines only got stronger.  They put weight on his chest and tried to pin his wrists down.  “LEAVE ME ALONE!!”

 

When one of the vines twisted his left arm, he screamed.  

 

His head felt like he was going to split in two.  It was unbearable.  He called forth his magic and was punished with even more intense pain.  His left eye felt like it was being stabbed.  He freed his right arm and clawed at his eye socket, trying to get rid of whatever was causing the pain.

 

Something small.  Something red.  He could not see it. But he knew it was there.  

 

The vines returned pulling his hand away from his face.  “LET GO! LET GO! LET GO!” he protested.

 

“I HATE YOU!”

 

The flower seemed to freeze but the vines still held on. They didn’t have the same strength as before though. Blue panted and squeezed his eyes shut.  When he opened them again, the flower was no longer there.  

 

Instead, he saw his brother’s face.  The vines were now his hands.  

 

 _“You should”_ he said.  

 

Blue cried red tears before the darkness took him back.

 

********

 

Fell let go of Blue’s wrists as soon as he had lost consciousness again.  He fell back feeling exhausted.  He was shaking.  

 

They were in the skeleton’s living room.  He had managed to sneak Blue into his house, after doing two perimeter sweeps to make sure nobody was spying on him.  

 

He allowed himself a moment to just gather his thoughts.  He brought up his knees up to his chest and glared at his recruit.  

 

_“I hate you”_

 

The words bounced back and forth in his head.  He sounded just like _him._

 

He had never expected such force from Blue. Such …

 

_Hatred._

 

He should be _happy_.  This would help bring the warrior in him.  So much potential.  

  


……………………………….It _bothered_ him. …………………………

 

He leaned over Blue and carefully touched his face again.  He was breathing hard and making a small wheezing sound.  His left eye had been the most damaged during Fell’s attack.  He didn’t remember aiming for his eye.  It must’ve been instinct.  He had seen Blue perform magic before (he was showing off) and knew that his left eye was were his magic core was.  Really, Blue should’ve known to always have your core on guard and activated.  Sans would’ve known better.    

 

Well…

 

Blue would learn too.

 

If … if he got over this.  This fever was unusual.  This was no response to an injury.  There was no infection that he could find.  

 

He lifted the heavy sweater vest that Blue liked to call his “battle body” and concentrated on detecting his soul.  Soon it shimmered through the small skeleton’s rib cage.  There was a taint of red over the light blue.

 

Poison damage.

 

Fell scowled at the sight.

 

His … his attacks were not poisonous ….

 

At least, they weren’t before.  

 

He covered Blue back again and proceeded to check on his left eye. Blue had acted like something was in it.  Perhaps … maybe ….  He had to get really close and squint to focus, but eventually he saw it.  A tiny fragment of red bone.  

 

Fell scowled some more.  Dammit.  He couldn’t just reach in and try to pick it out.  Surely, with how weak Blue already was, he would ended up killing him for sure.

 

 _Troublesome._   _Get rid of him._  

_You can’t trust him anyway.  Never should’ve._

 

Fell growled at himself.  He would not make the same mistakes again.  

 

_No.  This is fine.  He will learn._

 

He got up.  He had no idea on what to do about Blue’s condition.  Perhaps when he got him strong enough, he could heal himself, or perhaps take him to someone who would be discreet.  

 

He needed time to plan.

 

He carried Blue over to their couch.  He was shivering.  Did they even have spare blankets?  Of course they did.

 

Somewhere.  

 

He looked up upstairs at their bedrooms.  He knew he didn’t have any in his room and he only had the single blanket on his bed.  He looked at Sans’ bedroom door.  

 

He shook his head.  He would handle that ...after.  

 

He took off his jacket and put it on Blue.  

 

Then he walked around and make sure all the windows and entrances were properly secured.  He would go do his job first thing in the morning, then procure some more medicine for his recruit.  Perhaps he just needed to sleep some more.  

 

He reached down and picked up some of the rope he had brought with him from the shed.

 

_Just in case._

 

He started to tie Blue’s wrist together but changed his mind.  Instead he coiled the rope next to the couch.    Blue was pretty out of it.  He would resort to blindfolding him again if he started trying to use magic without permission again.  However he doubted the small skeleton could move on his own right now.  

 

He went into their sparse kitchen and found a fairly clean rag.  He soaked it in cold water and rinsed it and returned to put it on Blue’s head.  

 

As he did so, a sense of deja vu came to him.  He had done this with Sans a long time ago, when he was a baby bones.  

 

He had been a sickly kid.  Luckily, he had grown out it.  Fell was sure that the training he had put him through had helped as well.  

 

And just like it happened with Sans, it would happen with Blue.

  


******

.

..

…

….

…..

 

He was thirsty.  

 

.

..

…

….

…..

 

Why was he lying on the couch?  

 

He sat up and felt something heavy slid off of him.  He looked at it bleary eyed.  A jacket?  Did Papyrus get a new jacket?

 

He rubbed his eyes. His left eye was pounding.  

 

Uh …

 

Oh ..

 

Ow…

 

He really wanted some water.

 

He got on his feet and fell right back unto the couch.  A shiver ran down his spine.  He reached for the jacket and put it around his shoulders.  He would return it to Papyrus in the morning.  Where was Paps?

It felt like he hadn’t seen him in ages.  

 

He got up more carefully and balanced on his heels then on his feet proper.  

 

What was he doing downstairs?  

 

He started walking towards the kitchen.  He almost fell over and sideways three times before he decided he should just head to bed.  

 

Yeah.

 

That was for the best.  

 

He headed towards the stairs.  Were the stairs always this tall and steep?  

 

.

..

…

….

…..

 

Ok.  Just … just one step at a time.

 

He had to stop midway to take a small rest.  So tired.  

 

He continued on.  He felt like there wasn’t enough air in the room.  Perhaps he should take tomorrow off.  

 

Nah.  He would be fine after he slept in his own bed.  

 

He reached the top of the stairs.   He saw Papyrus’ bedroom door.  

 

Uh…

 

Hm…

 

He really wanted to see him.  

 

He _needed_ to see him.  

 

He knocked on the door.  “Paps?” He called out.  “Papyrus?”

 

Fell’s eyes snapped open.  He had fallen asleep next to the couch facing the door, so he could keep watch.  He hadn’t intended to fall asleep, so he was disoriented for a bit when he heard his name.

 

He turned around and saw that the couch was empty.  

 

Blue sighed.  Papyrus was probably dead asleep by now.   He didn’t want to just go in and bother his brother just because he wasn’t feeling well.  He would … see him in the morning.  

 

He held on to the jacket a little tighter and started walking towards his room.  

 

Fell looked up and saw Blue walking towards Sans’s bedroom door.  

 

“What … no!”  

 

Blue put his hand on the door knob.

 

Fell reached the bottom of the stairs and climbed them two steps at that time.  “Wait!”

 

Blue opened the door and turned on the light.

 

Fell reached Blue and put his hands on his shoulders to keep him from going further in, but it was too late.  

 

Blue didn’t really know what was happening.  His hand was still on the light switch.  It trembled in realization and denial.  

That was dust.  

 

That was monster dust all over the floor.  

 

Fell’s hands tightened around Blue’s shoulders. He coaxed him to turn around and walk into the highway.  He turned off the light and closed the door.  He looked down at Blue’s trembling form.  

 

“What … “ Blue started saying.

  
“It’s what happens when you don’t trust me”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. This is where I left off in the original story that got scrapped. I already have an ending in mind, but I don't know many chapters it will take to get there. I been writing this in between office meetings and at lunch at work. That's why the chapters are so small. This also probably means that I won't update over the weekend. Sorry about that!


	6. Broken Lies

A lifetime ago,

 

when Red stepped out of the portal into Underswap that early morning, the last monster he expected to see was Blue.  

 

Also, the last thing he had expected to hear, was the reason why Blue had needed to meet him there.  

 

A plan.  

 

A friendship plan.  

 

Really, after all of Blue’s hurried exposition (not because they were short on time or anything, Blue just couldn’t contain his amazing plan to himself), Red had one question.

.

..

...

 

“Are you INSANE??!!” Red said as loudly as someone who didn’t want to be overheard, but still wanted to make it clear that it was a very important question... statement... rhetorical question.

 

On his end, Blue gave him the look of someone who didn’t appreciate that tone of voice.  

 

It was a perfectly good plan after all.  

 

“Why not?  You come here all the time” he asked while not trying to sound hurt that Red wasn’t giving him the thumbs up  He failed, but going by Red’s expression, he either didn’t care or completely missed it.  

 

“IT’S NOT THE SAME THING!” shouted Red.  His voiced echoed throughout the small cave they were in.  “Underfell ain’t no Underswap.  Not even close!  Have you forgotten last time you were there? Swap was so MAD that you almost got eaten!”

 

“No he wasn’t and I didn’t -almost- get eaten” said Blue smiling but he couldn’t look at Red in the eyes while saying that.  

 

His brother had been livid.

 

“Ok, maybe a little upset and it was just a -nibble-” continued Blue.  

 

Papyrus had carried him over his shoulder back to the portal.  

 

“A smidge”  he tried as a last resort, showing his right hand’s index and thumb just a little bit apart.  Red put his own fingers in between them and forced Blue’s hand wide open.   

 

“Seriously?” he scoffed.

 

If Blue had had lips, he would be biting them hard.  “Ok, fine! He was mad! I looked delicious, Ok?!  All the more reason why I don’t want to upset him _NOW”_

 

“By going exactly where he doesn’t want you to go” argued Red “makes perfect fucking sense”.  

 

“Language” corrected Blue out of habit and paced away from his Underfell counterfall.  Red rolled his eyes.

 

“Blue, just … DON’T.  Do us ALL a favor and just DON’T.  You don’t need to go to Underfell.  Stay here safe with your brother and forget all about this _grand_ mission to make my boss your friend” Red stuffed his hands into his coat’s pockets “My boss is nobody’s friend...”.

 

“He is barely a brother” he added more quietly.   He started pacing around himself feeling extremely uncomfortable all of the sudden.  

 

He turned around to face Blue and quite possibly dragged him out of the cave if he had to.  He at least owed Swap to keep Blue from waltzing into Underfell and quite possibly, at the very least, losing several pounds by way of his arms or/and legs getting chopped off.  

 

Besides,

 

_Besides…_

 

_How dare him think he could just become friends with his Papyrus that easily?_

 

If it was THAT easy then … why…

 

Red looked up and almost bumped heads with Blue, who was looking at him intensely with his big blue eyes.  His smile looked sad.  

 

“I don’t want to take him away from you” Blue said tapping his fingers together self consciously. “I … just think that _maybe_ if someone talks to him like a friend, like Paps did …”

 

“With me” completed Red sighing.  

 

“Yeah!”  Blue’s happy smile returned.  “Maybe he’ll realize what he’s missing out on and we can all hang out together! We’ll be the best skeleton crew EVER!!”

 

His eyes sparkled and his smiled grew even wider at the possibilities of amazing future adventures.

 

Red looked at Blue with half lidded eyes.  “I swear there must be something in the water here”

 

“RED! I’m serious!  Don’t you want to be closer to your brother?”  insisted Blue closing his hands into eager fists.  

 

“I …. “  Red growled exasperated “Look that it's not even the point here! Underfell is a very dangerous place! Going there without even having your brother as backup, is STUPID”

 

“But I’m not going there without backup” said Blue plainly.  Had he forgotten to mention that part of his plan?  Surely he must’ve mentioned before.  “I’m going there with you!”

 

“What …?”

 

“Not right now!” explained Blue as if that was Red’s problem “Later, when you go back!”

 

“How are you going to explain THAT to your brother??”

 

“I …. “ Blue blushed blue “I am going to tell him I’m going on a last minute overnight training session with Alphys”

 

About three questions slammed into the front of Red’s skull, with several more forming a line behind them.  He made several noises that sounded like questions but he couldn’t quite decide to say first.  So he settled for the more obvious statement.  

 

“I can’t believe, you, out of all monsters in all the alternate universes, are going to lie to your brother” he said.  To his surprise, he was amused.  Relieved even.  All Sans were liars after all.

 

Blue blushed even harder.  He huffed and adjusted his blue scarf.  

 

“It’s … not something I _want_ to do” he said looking more serious than Red had ever seen him other than the first time they met.  “But .. I think it will be worth it in the end”  

 

Red regarded him for a long time.  Well … maybe he could help with his current dilemma.  

 

_So weak._

 

“I’m not going to convince you not to go, am I?”

 

“No”

 

_So Foolish._

 

*****

 

Red didn’t stay for too long that day.  The prospect of having Blue tagging along ended up being too much of a distraction for him to really be able to relax.

 

Blue had announced to Swap that he was going to be gone for most of the day until the next day.  New training sessions from Alphys and all that.  The Royal Guard may have been disbanded in that world but it didn’t stop Blue from seeking out the former Captain.   A lot of the time they just ended up watching human superhero movies.  

 

He winked at Red as he was leaving and waved goodbye to them as he went up the road towards the river to catch the next river person’s boat.  Swap waved him off lazily.  

 

“So…. “ started Red “You have no problem with this”

“Hm? With what?”  Swap lighted a cigarette with practiced ease.

 

“Him going off like that” Red nodding towards Blue disappearing form in the distance.

 

“He’s going to Alphys” Swap said taking a long drag “Besides, it’s not like he really needs my permission to do it”

 

A little short laugh escaped from Red’s throat and he shook his head.  “Yeah, right”

 

“He doesn’t” said Swap turning to get back inside the brother’s house.  “He tells me because it’s the nice thing to do.”

 

“Nice” repeated  Red mockingly as he followed Swap in.

 

“What’s eating you today?” asked Swap finishing off his smoke.  

 

Red looked at him.  “Uuurrgh, nothing.  It’s just that sometimes you are so aggravating.  Nice, nice, nice.”

 

“You still haven’t told your brother that you’re coming here, huh?”  Swap flopped onto their couch, the question making Red stop in the middle of a “nice”.  

 

“I don’t need to tell him anything!” But as defensive as he was, they both knew better.  

 

Red had let it slip out that Fell didn’t know about most of his visits.  Sometimes Red could get away by claiming he was doing recognizance on this alternate world.  Those visits were apparent because Red stayed longer than normal and was wwaaaay more relaxed.  Swap had the sneaky suspicion that Fell gave Red “permission” to be “nice”.  

 

One of these days, he really should’ve a talk with his alternate.  

 

******

 

They ended up not doing much of anything and Red ended up leaving just a couple of hours later.  He usually stayed until close to noon, then rushed back to report to Fell about his rounds.  

 

As usual, Swap walked with him back to the cave.  He really didn’t have to.  The cave itself was a mere  half a mile into the forest from their home.  You could say that the two sets of brothers lived only a few blocks away from each other, if you discounted the whole time and space warp in between.  

 

The cave itself wasn’t all that obvious and it took some doing to get to it. You had to go down into a small ravine and then through a thin opening that forced you to walk sideways.  The inside of the cave itself was much bigger, allowing for monsters as tall as Swap and Fell to stand comfortably.  

 

Red considered just telling Swap about what Blue was planning, but every time he thought about it, he felt his belly twist this way and that with indecision.  

 

As idiotic as Blue’s plan was.  It could help him out in the end.

 

He didn’t _dislike_ Blue.

 

He really didn’t.

 

No, really.

 

_ Blue didn’t deserve such a supportive brother. _

Still,

He was glad when Blue hadn’t been at the ravine. 

He was glad when he hadn’t been inside the cave. 

Still,

He was glad when he met up with him on the other side of the portal.  Covered in Underfell snow and eager to go visit Fell.  

He had  _ been glad. _

Maybe for once, Red could be on the good side of “Kill or be Killed”.

_  
****** _


	7. Bro...

Dr. Pewter was not shocked to see the empty bed.  That skeleton had been taking any opportunity he had to leave his bed at the tiny clinic in Snowdin, for the last couple of days, thus giving himself every chance to re-injure his back.   He had been lucky so far and had only managed a couple of extra nasty looking bruises.

 

Skeletons were rare monsters.  She had never had to treat one before.  So far, however, her patient seemed to be a naturally fast healer.  However, even a fast healing body can take so much abuse before it starts to shut down.  

 

What did shock her was that there was no skeleton flopping around besides the empty bed.  He had actually managed to make it out of the room this time.

 

That was good news and bad news.  

 

Good, when it came to his condition. His legs were working.  He was certainly getting stronger despite his misguided efforts.  

 

And bad, in the sense that now it was going to be harder for her to get him back into bed, so he could recover properly.  She would have to call for back up again.  

 

She had arrived in town only last month and had heard about the skeleton brothers, but had not met them so far.  The tiny doctor remembered seeing the younger one buzzing about and had made a mental note to go knock on theirs and other neighbors door’s sometime to introduce herself.  Um… maybe.  

 

When she was in doctor “mode” it was easy.  Any other time, it wasn’t so easy.  

 

ANY.WAY. Ok.  Missing skeleton.  Where was he?

 

She followed the path of overturned furniture right to the outside of her tiny house that was in the process of being converted to a clinic.  There, she found her errant skeleton sitting on a snow bank with his back against the building.  Arms draped over his knees and head lodged in between them.   A faint trail of cigarette smoke indicated that he was still breathing despite his uncomfortable pose.

 

She adjusted her glasses.  

 

“Good, you can walk more than a couple of steps now”  she said “Are you in pain?”

 

Papyrus shook his head ever so slightly.  

 

“No?”

 

Papyrus raised his head.  There were dark circles under his eyes despite having been asleep for most of the time he had spent in the clinic.  He barely ate and was obviously - very concerned - about his brother,  who had been missing for almost 7 days now. He looked emaciated despite, well, being a skeleton and being nothing but bones anyway.  He looked pathetic.  

 

After his initial outburst about killing a friend, he had become stubbornly quiet about what happened the day he was attacked. He had asked her to not tell anybody else about he had said. He begged her to just tell whoever asked, that his brother was away visiting friends.  He had been so insistent about it that she had to agree just to calm him down.  

 

Regardless, other monsters had come by asking about him and his brother.  Everyone was worried, of course, the couple monsters that had been witness to his injuries knew how badly hurt he had been.  The general consensus was that he had possibly gotten on the wrong side of a traveling monster, which were common nowadays.  Certainly not a local.  Nobody who lived in Snowdin would do this.  

 

To the doctor’s fascination, however, what seemed to be more common initial reaction from monsters upon hearing about Papyru’s condition, shock that his brother wasn’t there pep talking him back to health. They said it in the same tone someone would use to say “I can’t believe this water isn’t wet”  It was just something expected to be true.  Always.

 

But Papyrus wasn’t saying anything and nobody knew where Sans was.  

 

As time dragged on, rumors abounded.

 

_Maybe the brothers had a fight._

 

_Maybe this fight got out of hand._

 

_Maybe Sans is hiding out of shame for hurting his brother._

 

_Maybe Papyrus got the better of Sans._

 

_Maybe.._

 

_Maybe … maybe…_

 

_Did you hear? …._

 

_Did you know?...._

 

Rumors are a funny thing.

 

They can replace the truth so easily.  

 

Of course there were defenders for both sides, but the fact of the matter was that unless Papyrus said something, nobody really knew what happened.  Even Alphys and Undyne had failed on trying to get the skeleton to open up.  

 

Never to be dissuaded, Alphys and Undyne looked into the situation themselves.  Unfortunately, all they had been able to find, were vague tales about there being a third skeleton that visited the brothers from time to time.  He looked to be related to them.  Perhaps a cousin?  The few monsters that had talked to Sans about him had said that he referred to him as his “cousin twice removed”, and then giggle about it.

 

Still, a third mysterious skeleton didn’t explain Sans’ absence, nor Papyrus’ injuries.  

 

So the rumors continued.  

 

And Papyrus remained silent.

 

*****

Dr. Pewter looked at his mysterious patient.  

 

“I don’t think it's good for you to be outside sitting like this”  she said carefully “It can’t possibly be good for your back”

 

“I needed a smoke” he said indifferently tossing the rest of the cigarette into the snow.  

 

Dr. Pewter followed the cigarette with her eyes then flicked them back to Papyrus.  She wanted to ask where he got those since smoking seemed to be a human habit not a monster one.  Not that it hurt them in any way.  It was just very unusual.  

 

“I’m going to call my nurse to come help you back to your room”  she said taking out her phone “I’m sure he’s almost done with his lunch”

 

“Nah, don’t bother.  I can manage”   Papyrus started to get up using the wall he was leaning against as support.  He tried his best not to vocalize it but his face betrayed how much of an effort this procedure was.  His legs trembled under him and a groan escaped between his teeth.  He gave up and sat down again.  

 

“Just give me a couple of more hours” he said wheezing a bit.  He managed a tiny smile.  

 

Unimpressed Dr. Pewter dialed the number for her nurse and asked them to come over to help her patient back into their bed.  

 

“Papyrus, you’re not going to get any better any sooner by doing stuff like this” she said “You got to give your body time to heal properly”

 

She felt like a broken record by now.  

 

Papyrus nodded and bowed his head in meek surrender.  

 

She sat down next to him. She really couldn’t do anything else but wait until her nurse got back.  

 

“I failed him” she heard him mumble.  

 

“Papyrus?”

 

“I don’t know what to do ...  I can’t just do nothing”  he continued.  

 

“Papyrus … why aren’t letting your friends help you?”  she asked.  She knew it wasn’t a very professional thing to say but at this point maybe he didn’t need a doctor.  

 

“I can’t … can’t risk it” he said “I should’ve done something before ….”    He tapped his bony fingers against his forehead.  The doctor waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts.  She texted her nurse to give them some time.  

 

“Once I had to fight someone for a long time” he said looking up at the sky “I hated it.  I kept destroying them but they kept coming back”  

 

The doctor raised an eyebrow at the strange statement but said nothing.  

 

“Sans kept saying that they only needed a chance to be good.  For someone to _believe_ they could be good”  He gave a quick little bitter laugh at the memory “It cost him his life so many times”

 

“But in the end … in the end,  he was right.  We all survived”

 

He looked at the doctor.  He looked proud.  

 

She smiled at him even though she was utterly confused.  Papyrus smiled back but his face was ashen.

 

“I … I can’t lose him again” His voice cracked, just a little bit. “I won’t get another chance to save him. There are no … do overs.   Red … Red was like my little brother too and he’s gone.   All because I didn’t say anything.  I did nothing”

 

He covered his face with both his hands.

 

“What happened to Red?” asked the doctor.

 

Papyrus spread his fingers apart. His eyes were dark.  “I don’t know.  I don’t know what happened.  I just know he’s gone”

 

“Then how is it your fault?”

 

“BECAUSE ... I could’ve have gotten off my LAZY ASS AND MADE THE EFFORT TO LISTEN TO HIM.  OR … MAYBE …. MAYBE … GONE AND KICK SOME SENSE INTO HIS BROTHER!!”  

 

Dr. Pewter shrank back a little bit at Papyrus’ outburst but recovered. She bit her lower lip a little unsure on what to say next.  

 

“Mmmhh, Papyrus, it sounds to me that you obviously cared about Red” she said “and I know even less than you about what happened to him.   But, if he’s indeed ... gone.   There is nothing you can do, now.  Maybe you could’ve done something but also maybe not.  Wouldn’t it be better for you to try to do what you can now?  Like allowing yourself to heal so you can help your brother?”

 

“I’m sorry Doc, but you don’t understand”

 

“Ok, I don’t” Pewter said roughly closing her eyes, trying her best not to lose her composure too badly  “What I DO understand is that I am trying MY BEST to help you!  All of your friends want to help you!  We may not understand what’s going on.  Only that you’re hurting!” When she opened her eyes again, she saw that his eyes were lit again and he was looking at her intensely.  

“You sounded exactly like him” he said

 

“Like who?”

 

“Sans.  Must be a small monster thing” Papyrus said.  

 

“Well.. I … huh?”

 

“Doc?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Please help me get my brother back”

 

*********

 

Blue laid on his back.  He could barely tell how much time had passed since he had woken up in Fell’s home.  Two, maybe three days. The only window in the room had been boarded up, so there was no light to indicate the passing of time.  He could guess only by the times Fell had visited him with meals or medicine, but not much else.  

 

He wished he wasn’t in that room.   

 

He must’ve passed out after seeing the dust spread on the floor.  The last thing he remembered was Fell’s bony hands digging into his shoulders.  When he next had come to, he was on the bed inside that room, with his wrists tied together and to the headboard.  

 

The dust had been cleaned up and Blue had no idea what had been done with it.  Fell had ignored all of his questions and had fallen back into the habit of punishing him whenever he talked “without permission”.  However, this time the punishments had taken the form of Fell just getting up and leaving the room, leaving him alone for random periods of time.  It didn’t matter what he had been doing.  Giving him some food or medicine.  He would just stop, turn off the light and leave.

 

It was driving Blue mad.  

 

He still felt sick despite eating healing food.  His entire soul and body felt weak and constantly hot.  Bouts of nausea hit him in waves but luckily it never resolved in him throwing up.  The only grace was that his left arm no longer hurt at the slightest movement.

 

He had tried to undo his bounds a few times while he was alone but the rope was too thick, and the knots too tight for him.  Trying to use his magic was very painful, and always left him with a horrible headache.  After his last attempt, his left eye couldn't stop tearing up and Fell noticed, so he wrapped it tightly with a bandage, essentially leaving him blind on that side.  

 

He wished Fell would talk to him other than bark orders.  He looked so sad despite his fierce glare and rough treatment whenever he saw him.  Memories had come fragmented but now Blue was sure that Fell had attacked him that night.  He couldn’t even begin to imagine why.  He wracked his brains trying to think of something he had done to make him so mad.  

He wondered where Papyrus was.  Had he been attacked too?  He hoped he was ok.  

 

He had to be ok.

 

Blue couldn’t stand the thought of his brother being gone.

 

So he convinced himself that he wasn’t.

 

And Red. Where was Red?  This was his room, yet Blue had not seen his alternate once since this whole ordeal started.  

 

The obvious answer frightened him and saddened him deeply. .  

 

So he chose to believe that Red was ok, somewhere.  

 

Everything was going to be ok.  

 

******

 

The next time he saw Fell, he came in with some clothes draped over his arm.   Without a word, he undid the rope binding Blue to the headboard but didn’t untie his wrists.  He told him to get up and sit on the edge of the bed, where he coiled the extra length of rope around his torso, so the small skeleton was forced to keep his hands down.  

 

At least, Fell wasn’t talking to him unkindly and was actually being gentle (by comparison, anyway) to him.  He took a hopeful breath in.

 

“Quiet” warned Fell.  

 

Blue sighed but complied.  He would wait for a better opportunity.  Instead, he sneaked a look around the room.  It had was sparsely furnished.   It didn’t look at all like his room back in Underswap even though the layout was exactly the same.  This was a room that was used but not lived in.  

 

The dust was gone but he could still remember it in his mind's eye.  

 

_Where was Red?_

 

_Whose dust was it?_

 

_Where was Red?_

 

Blue opened his mouth but no sound came out.  

 

_Where was Red? WHERE?_

 

Blue tried to talk again but failed.

 

Fell picked up the clothing from where he had placed it on the bed and draped it over his head, shoulders and arms.  It was a cloak with a hood.  Fell started lacing up the front so it hid Blue’s tied wrists.  

 

_What did you do with Red’s dust?_

 

“Get up” said Fell.

 

_What did you do, Fell?_

 

Blue looked up at him.  His smile broken.

 

“Fell, where is Red?” he asked.

 

The look on Fell’s face scared Blue more than he ever thought possible.  He grabbed him by the arm and dragged him unto his feet.  Blue swayed as his head and legs were not ready for him to stand up.  The taller skeleton kept a strong grip on him, however, and he didn’t fall.  Instead, Blue was forced to face Fell.

 

“He’s gone” he growled.  “You saw his dust”

 

“No..”

 

Fell grabbed him even tighter.  Blue felt like his arm was going to pop off.  Fell leaned over and whispered.  

 

“You are mine now.  I will protect you.  I will protect you far better than your brother ever did”  he said, reaching for something with his free hand “And you will be far better than Red ever was”  

 

The grip on his arm was pure agony now.  Blue squeezed his eyes shut and whimpered unable to respond.  

 

“You said we could be like brothers”  he heard Fell say, as his arm was let go and something was wrapped around Blue’s neck making him open his eyes.  A collar with a long chain was snapped closed.  “And brothers listen to each other”  

 

“Fell .. ugh!” the chain was pulled and he tumbled forward into Fell's arms.  

 

Fell put bony index finger over his mouth.  There wouldn’t be another warning.  

 

_Quiet.  Ok.  Just be quiet._

 

Fell straightened up and made sure Blue’s clothes were on correctly.  

 

“C’mon dear brother, we’re visiting a friend” 

  
*****


	8. ...ken.

Blue didn’t know where they were going, but wherever that was it wasn’t in Snowdin.  It had surprised him that they had left the house so late in the day.  It was already fairly dark and very cold, even for the snow covered town.  It made him, in an odd way, grateful for the cloak that Fell had put on him.  

 

Fell hanged a small satchel filled with supplies across his body then put on a cloak of his own.  It looked a little too big on him but it hid his form well, making him look a lot more broad shouldered than he was. Unlike Blue’s, this one had sleeves that allowed him to keep a hold on his ward.  

 

It was obvious that Fell expected Blue to keep up pace with him, but Blue could barely keep from swaying, let alone walk normally with his arms bound the way they were.  Fell kept him up upright by holding on to his arm but their progress was painfully slow and awkward, and once they hit the edge of the forest, it only got worse.  Fell had attached the long chain on Blue’s collar to the belt he wore around his hip bones, so even if, somehow, the taller skeleton let him go, there was no chance for Blue to run away easily.  Not that the small skeleton was even contemplating that, when just putting one foot in front of the other took a concentrated effort.  

 

Fell avoided the main road and instead kept to the less well known forest paths.  These were probably part of his usual guard rounds since he seem to know exactly where he was going despite the fading light.  For a few minutes, it looked like they were heading towards the portal and Blue began to hold hope that they were actually heading back to Underswap.  He even allowed himself to smile a little bit but, his smile fell soon after when Fell took a turn that took them away from it.

 

They had only been walking for about 30 minutes but to Blue it felt like it had been hours.  He started coughing.  The cold air made it so much harder to breath.  At first he tried to hide it, fearing it would just result in him getting yanked harder by the collar or the arm, but he couldn’t keep it up for long.  His body just refused to continue and he collapsed onto his knees and hands, coughing uncontrollably.  Somewhere to his left he heard Fell growl and pace a little bit waiting for the spell to pass.

 

After his coughing fit had calmed down.  Fell knelt on one knee and lifted Blue’s chin and inspected him.  The small skeleton held his breath in an attempt to stifle more coughing but instead he started gagging.   Fell reached for the rope tied around around Blue and untied it and he also undid the front of his cloak to just under his chin, keeping the hood in place.  Fell's red eyes concentrated on him as he checked his hp.  

 

Blue wriggled his wrists in a silent plea for Fell to untie them as well.  They hurt from being bound for so long.  Fell ignored him and instead, commanded him to get up.  

 

Once Blue had managed to get back on his feet, Fell brought his other knee down and turned so his back was to Blue.  

 

“Get on” he said.  

 

Blue looked at him utterly confused.  Snow started to fall and the temperature was dropping fast.   

 

“Get on my back” repeated Fell impatiently.  

 

Blue blinked finally understanding, and clumsily made his way onto Fell’s back.  His arms ended up around the tall skeleton’s neck, twisted awkwardly, bound as they were.  Fell maneuvered the chain from Blue’s collar so it was out of the way but still attached to his belt.  He put his arms under Blue’s legs and got up.  

 

It was the most sad looking piggy back in the Underground, possibly even the Surface, but it served its purpose.  They were able to move much faster even if not as fast as Fell would’ve liked.  Even through his thick covering he could feel the heat emanating from Blue.  His fever was coming back full force and all the coughing was taking whatever little energy he had away.  

 

Regardless, Blue was trying to keep awake despite Fell not commanding him to, so he wouldn’t send both of them toppling over. It showed initiative on his part.  Very good. At least he had _some_ training.

 

Also, whenever he coughed, he felt him turn so he would do it away from Fell’s body.  Always polite to his betters.  Very good.

 

After  another 15 or so minutes however, the young skeleton just couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore and slumped over to his right almost sending both of them into a pile of rocks and fallen trees.  Fell caught himself in time and adjusted Blue’s body against his back.  

 

Well, at least he wasn’t coughing anymore.   

 

They did need to stop somewhere so he could give Blue some medicine and get his hp back up.  He had hoped that they would at least make it to the edge of the Waterfall before his fever flared up again.    

 

So annoying.  

 

 _Nevermind_ that he was hungry himself.  

 

 _Nevermind_ that his hands had started to shake and he felt the lightheaded again.  

 

_Nevermind._

 

*****

 

After almost another hour walking, they came upon a small, unused guard post just before Waterfall.  It had been abandoned after the main road had been changed due to a rock slide.  It barely had any room for one monster to be protected from the falling snow.  It took some doing but eventually was able to place Blue inside it.   Blue groaned and woke up.   He looked around a little lost and brought up his hands to rub his eyes.  The sight of the rope around them, reminded him of his situation.  

 

He blinked sadly at the rope.

 

He looked over at Fell who was sitting out in the falling snow taking supplies out of his satchel.  His stomach swam at the sight of the isicle.  He was so sick of them.  

 

Fell looked up noticing his movement.  “Oh good, you’re awake.  This will make things easier” He said and put one isicle in Blue’s hands.  “Eat this then you can have some soup”

 

Blue just stared at the frozen healing meal.  

 

“C’mon dear brother.  Just eat up!” encouraged Fell.  

 

Blue winced.  Those words coming from Fell just felt so wrong.  They put a bitter taste in his mouth that made him hate himself.  After all, he was the one who told Fell they could be …

 

_**“BROTHERS!”**  Blue announced with his gloved hands on his hips.  Stars in his eyes._

 

_Fell was draped over the couch in his Underfell home, with an arm over over his eyes.  A pounding headache robbing him of all energy to strangle the uninvited guest into silence._

 

_Hangovers were a bitch._

 

_“What the fuck are you going on about …” he said._

 

_“Langua…” started Blue but stopped when he saw a red eye glare at him from under Fell's arm.  “Um … ok … anyway, I was saying that we could all be like brothers!”_

 

 _“Who’s we?”  asked Fell._ _He also wanted to ask,  What the fuck are you still doing here? , Why are you still talking? And Who the Fuck wears that much blue?.  But he only had the energy for the one question._

 

_“WE” emphasized._

 

_“You” he pointed at Fell._

 

_“Red” he pointed at the small skeleton walking out of the kitchen with a glass of water and a bottle full of monster aspirin._

 

_“Paps” Blue pointed at the far wall, but he really meant beyond the wall, beyond the forest, beyond the portal to his house in Underswap, where his brother was on an identical couch having a nice and quiet nap._

 

_“And Me” he finished pointing at himself with a smile._

 

_Fell glared at Blue.  “Saaaannnss”  He intoned without taking his eyes off the intruder._

 

_“Yes! Boss!” said Red rushing over the medicine._

 

_Fell took the bottle and downed about five pills then drank the whole glass of water in one gulp.  He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand._

 

_“Why is he here?” he asked finally directing his gaze at his younger brother._

 

_“Um…. he followed me and … and … I confronted him, he said he had something important to say to you, so I thought I should bring him over to be debriefed”  Red flicked his eyes over to Blue._

 

_Blue smiled and nodded ._

 

_“Oh yes, yeah” he said very unconvincingly.  “Red totally told me that I needed to be debriefed”_

 

_Fell looked at both at them and quite frankly considered locking them both in the back room without food or water for a couple of months. But he was a practical and hungover monster and didn’t want to get out of the couch right at that moment._

 

_“Take him back to that blasted portal, toss him in and then destroy the damned thing!” he commanded Sans._

 

_Red looked at Blue, then back at Fell, then back at Blue. Welp, that had gone as well as he expected.  At least there had been no murder involved.  He took a step towards his Underswap counterpart._

 

_“But don’t you want to be friends?” argued Blue._

 

_“I’m nobody’s friend” grumbled Fell covering his eyes again.  “Besides, you said you wanted to be brothers….”_

 

_“Yes! Brothers are friends! And friends can be like brothers!”_

 

_Fell’s arm dropped off to the side of the couch.  He stared at him with his mouth slightly open.  He then burst out laughing.  “Friends??!!!” he wheezed.  “You are the most fucking ….” He laughed harder  “Deluded … “  He fell off the couch but continued pointing at Blue “.... blue thing”_

 

_He laughed until the pounding headache in his head started making him see double.  Still, his mood had improved.  “Can you believe this guy Sans?”  he asked from the floor._

 

_“Yeah… “ Sans chuckled half heartedly “... he’s fucking hilarious”_

 

_Blue crossed his arms.  He wasn’t going to give up so easily.   “Look, you said that one had to earn the right to be your brother” he said._

 

_Red jumped a little at these words._

 

_“Yeah? … so what?” asked Fell suddenly serious._

 

_“Well, I want to earn it”  said Blue puffing out his chest. “I want to be like Red and have another awesome big brother like you!  That way we can all be brothers!”_

 

_Fell started to get up from the floor and Blue sneaked a wink at Red._

 

_Something gnawed at the pit of Red’s belly._

 

_Fell dusted off his clothes.  Rolled back his shoulders and reached the spot where Blue stood near the door in four long steps, startling both small skeletons.  He sneered down at Blue._

 

_“Is that so?”_

 

_“....Yes! I always mean what I say!”_

 

_Red buried his hands in his coat’s pockets.  His boss would toss the little interloper out on his ass any moment now…. It had been a bad plan from the start.  How dare him think that it was that easy?_

 

_“Sans?”_

 

_Or he would make him toss him out.  Same difference._

 

_“Take the rest of the day off!”_

 

_Wait, what?_

 

_“I’m going to show this little insect just how hard it is to earn the right to become my brother”  said Fell over his shoulder.   He smiled._

 

_Red felt the gnawing feeling travel up to his soul._

 

_His boss never smiled._

 

_*******_

 

Blue finished gulping down the isicle. He felt his hp go up and fever back off a little. Then looked at the container of cold soup that Fell had put in front of him.  He really doubted he could stomach it.  His head buzzed and his soul hurt. 

 

_Red.  I'm so sorry._

 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red.  

 

Fell had a little red vial in his hand.  He was using a small syringe to take some of the liquid out of it.  The color stirred some memories … feelings ...in Blue.  He had seen red things before, of course, but this shade of red … this red was very special and very dangerous.

 

With increased horror, he saw Fell tap on the syringe, then placed the magic needle against his left radius bone and pushed it in.  

 

“Um… Fell?” he said quietly.  

 

Fell ignored him, his attention fully on the liquid going into his arm.  Soft snow fell unto him turning the top of his hood white.   He was perfectly still.

 

“Fell … no… you …. “ Blue continued, he saw the last of the liquid disappear into his arm.  “FELL! NO! That stuff is DANGEROUS!”

 

Fell’s head snapped up.  His eyes flared an angry red. He rushed forward and put a gloved hand over Blue’s mouth.  He slammed his head and upper back against the back of the guard station.  

 

“STOP!!” he screamed.  

 

He lifted Blue’s head only to slam it again.  

 

“STOP SOUNDING LIKE HIM!!” he cried.  

 

Wood cracked and splintered and the guard post collapsed on top of them.  

  
  
_I’m sorry._ Cried the trees. 

_I’m sorry._ Cried the wind.

 _I’m sorry_. Cried the snow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Half way point. See you all next week.


	9. Chain Bound

The world was gray.  Dawn was coming.

 

He felt heaviness first and foremost.  The weight of the wood and the snow fall.  The weight of Fell’s body leaning against his.  It was hard to breathe but he felt no pain.

 

He wondered about that, but really didn’t care. He knew the pain would be back as soon as he moved.  If he could move at all that is.  

 

He also wondered why he was awake.  He had slept so much in the last few …. Days? … weeks?  … that being awake now felt like he was cheating.   He knew his limitations.  He knew he had a weak body that already felt like it was on the verge of dust.  Why wasn’t he dead?  

 

_I don’t -static- dead._

 

Blue risked moving his head to this right.  The bandages over his left eye got caught in wood debris. It hurt but he willed himself to move his head even further loosening the bandages, until they started sliding off.  

 

The world turned gray and red.

 

He stayed still for a few minutes hissing in pain.  Moving about had also reminded him that it was freezing cold.   

 

_-static- you’re so weak._

 

Through the pain and sickness, all he knew  was that he needed to _move._ If he was moving.  If he was doing something.  Anything.  Anything was better than allowing himself to think.  If he thought about it… if he .. _allowed_ himself to think about it, he didn’t think he could ….

 

 _“Red”_ he said.  He squeezed his eyes shut when he felt the tears well up.  “ _No, no, no.  Not now!”_ He willed his body to roll unto his right. To free himself of Fell’s weight.  A wood plank that had been resting on his shoulder, slid down and bumped him on his cheek sending sparks of pain throughout his jawline.

 

 _-static - Foolish_.

 

Blue really wanted to say a bad word but instead settled for grunting to himself.  

 

During his attack Fell had smashed Blue’s head against the back of the guard post. Fortunately the guard post was already weak from age and weather, so the hits weren’t as hard as they would’ve been otherwise.  Also, his head had been pushed out of the way of the falling heavier parts, such as the main roof beam and the snow and rocks that had piled on top of it.  That honor had gone to Fell’s neck and back.  Intentionally or not, Fell had protected him from most of these debris.   

 

He tried again and again, until finally he rolled free of the debris.  He fell face down on the fresh fallen snow and sobbed into it, staining it red.  Its coolness helped his fever somewhat and he was grateful for it.  Exhausted but unwilling to quit, he coaxed himself into a kneeling position. He pulled his cloak around him as best as he could.  A metallic sound reminded him of the chain attached to the collar around his neck.  

He felt around the collar trying to figure out the type of lock it was, but his wrists tied, it was hard to inspect properly.  

 

He huffed at his bindings, then he looked over at Fell and crawled over.  He pushed debris off of his unconscious form as best as he could.  He looked for injuries and found a couple of cracks along his jawline.  Nothing major, they should be healed completely in a day’s time.

 

He remembered the red liquid going into Fell’s arm.  Why was he taking DT?  Papyrus, Alphys and Undyne had all said that it twisted you inside.  It _changed monsters into horrible things_.

 

He checked on the taller skeleton’s HP.  It had barely gone down.  

 

He certainly was tough.

 

Like his brother.  

 

_He will -static-  be your brother._

 

“But … I … “ Blue looked up suddenly realizing that he was answering someone.   He looked in the direction he thought he had heard the voice coming from.  His eyes fell on something glinting red.  He realized that it was the tip of a hunting knife poking out of Fell’s travel satchel.  He crawled over to it and grabbed it.  

 

He held it up to his face in fascination.  

 

-static- _About time - static-_

 

With shaky hands, he used the knife on the rope around his wrists.  It took some time and he had to take several breaks to allow the soreness in his hands to subside.  He gave a happy yell when he felt his wrists pull free and the knife clattered to the ground.  

 

He sniffed as relieved tears came.   He pulled one of his gloves off and saw that his wrists were badly bruised.  He flexed and unflexed his finger bones and rotated his wrists.   He winced.  

 

_-static- Papyrus would’ve never -static- to you._

 

Blue put his gloves back on.  He didn’t want to think how much worse his hands would be if Fell had not  allowed him to keep them after he took his scarf and shoulder pads away.

 

He sighed and that caused him to cough again.  

 

Snow was falling faster now.  He looked up at a sky that looked exactly like his world’s.  

 

_-static- you would -static- free -static- pick up the knife._

 

He looked down at the weapon.  

 

“No.  No... I won’t do that” he said.

 

_-static-_

 

_Weak._

 

_-static-_

 

Silence.

 

Blue pulled up his knees up to his chest and hugged himself into a tight ball.  He needed to get out of there, back to Underswap.  He could get his brother and then come back here and help Fell.  But, but, he wasn't sure if he should leave Fell alone like this.  What if what happened to Red, happened to him?

 

He felt a tug on his collar.  

 

_Oh. Oh no._

 

Fell was waking up.  Long limbs twisting this way and that, trying to get the rest of the guard post off of him.  

 

Blue frantically started reaching for the collar, looking for the latch.  To his horror, he realized it was a key lock latch.  He launched for the satchel, hoping against all odds, that the key was in there and not in one of Fell’s pockets.  Unfortunately, he barely had time to put his hand on the bag when was yanked backwards onto his tail bone.  

 

“Sans” he heard Fell say, grumpily “Help me up”

 

“Nngghh” said Blue blinking tears away.  He looked up at Fell confused.  He had never called him by his real name before.  

 

“NOW, SANS!” Fell yanked on the chain harder ending any protests from Blue.  The small skeleton got on his feet and stumbled over to Fell.  He offered a hand to him.  

 

Fell stared at Blue's hand for a moment as if he didn’t recognize it, then took it.  He got up with some effort and stood there swaying on his heels getting his bearings.  

 

Blue realized that Fell was still dazed from almost being squished by a small building and, most likely, taking that horrible stuff last night.  He looked at his belt where the chain from his collar was attached via a snap hook.  He reached for it…

 

“WHERE ARE WE?” asked Fell whirling around, his heavy cloak covering the hook. He ran his red gloved hand across the the cracks on his jawline.  His eyes went from being big and red to faint small points of light.  

 

“No …” murmured Fell.  He paced as Blue looked on nervously  “Shut up….”

 

“WE HAVE TO MOVE SANS!” he exclaimed suddenly launching into the forest at a full walking speed.  Blue barely had time to hold on to the chain and use it to help him keep up with Fell’s momentum and not break his neck at the same time.  It only worked for a few meters, however, before the terrain and Fell’s erratic path ended sending Blue sprawling over a rock half his size.  

 

“SANS!” berated Fell  “KEEP UP!”

 

“Fell … please …” begged Blue making his way around the boulder and trying to keep his voice calm … “I …”

 

“WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR EXCUSES” Fell leaned over, scooped him up and threw him over his shoulder.  He continued on his erratic path towards Waterfall at a pace nobody would expect from a monster that had just spent the night sleeping under rubble.  

 

Blue’s right arm was pinned between Fell’s body and his, but his left was free and he was using it was best as he could to keep from falling off Fell.  He was too terrified of his behavior to even try to think of something to say to calm him down.  Fell was obviously reacting to something that clearly wasn’t there.  

 

The small skeleton looked around trying to figure out where they were.  The scenery was quickly changing from snow covered forest, to heavy humid air and lily covered water paths.

 

They were entering Waterfall.  

 

Fell was now running full speed, murmuring to himself.  He still wasn’t following any of the main paths. It didn’t seem that he was following any path at all.  He kept choosing the darkest possible areas to run across.

 

_-static- He’s going to -static- you - static-_

 

Blue looked up and saw a child size form smile at them as they ran past. He felt his left eye flare. He covered with his left hand trying to will the pain away.  He looked into the direction the child ... thing ...had been at.  They were gone.  Instead he saw something that he believed was much worse:

 

He saw several pairs of glowing red eyes.  

 

“Fell?” he started saying then as the eyes started following matching their speed. He panicked “FELL!!”

 

The world gave up from under him.  Suddenly they were both rolling down a hill of wet grass and rocks.  The roar of rushing water coming closer and closer.  

 

A splash, then another.  Darkness with no air.  Blue felt as he was being yanked in every direction possible.  Mercifully, the same current that had been pushing him down, threw him over the surface and he responded by taking a big gulp of air.  He grabbed around blindly in the low light for something to stop him.  

 

His body slammed against a rock taking whatever little wind he had gained, however, the inertia from the hit also sent him into the crook of two other smaller rocks wedging him in.  The feeling of his head almost being separated from his body, reminded him that he was still wearing a collar with a chain attached to Fell.  

 

Squinting against heavy mist and trying to listen over the roar of the rushing water, he reached out for the chain and tried to pull it towards him to ease off the pressure being put on his neck. It was an impossible task.  He could barely see a foot in front of him, let alone see where Fell was.  If he was still conscious or, even alive.  

 

The chain shook in his hands then he realized that it was shaking not because of the current but because someone was pulling on it.  

 

"Fell!?"

 

“SANS!” yelled Fell.

 

Then, slowly, Fell’s form came into focus.  He too had found some rocks to hold on to against the violent current.  They were only about 6 feet apart.   His hand was outstretched in front of him towards Blue.  

 

“SANS!” he yelled again “TAKE MY HAND!”  

 

Blue couldn’t believe what he was witnessing.  Fell was in front of him.  If he took his hand, they would both end up tumbling all the way to the waterfall this raging underground river’s course must lead to.

 

What he was asking was suicide.  

 

“NO!” yelled Blue.  

 

“SANS! YOU HAVE TO TRUST ME!” 

 

“FELL, NO! THAT’S INSANE! YOU COME HERE!” Blue held on to the chain.  His grip was slipping.  He knew that very soon he would either be crushed or, his neck would be broken by the extreme strain the collar was putting on it.   He desperately tried to get a lock on Fell’s soul so he could turn it blue and maybe, somehow, pull him over to his group of rocks, but even the mere idea of invoking his magic made him scream in agony.  

 

“TRUST ME!” yelled Fell.  His voice hitched with emotion.

 

Blue’s vision was increasingly blurry but he could’ve sworn Fell was crying.  

 

Fell never cried.

 

“PLEASE TRUST ME!!” he begged.

 

_I ... I can't._

 

“I’m sorry” said Blue.  He couldn’t hold on anymore.  He let go expecting the next thing he would feel was himself turning to dust.

 

.

..

...

 

Instead, the next thing he felt was an arm around him while its counterpart held on to the chain like it weighed nothing.  

 

Blue looked up.  

 

“Undyne?”


	10. Trust Bound

“Undyne!.  UNDYNE!!” 

 

Alphys followed the angry scientist out the clinic into the late afternoon chill.  Under her arm, she was carrying Underswap Papyrus rather unceremoniously.  The skeleton just allowed himself to hang there, resigned to be yelled at for at least the rest of the day, if not the rest of his life.  

 

Undyne stopped.  Her shoulders were shaking as she murmured to herself.  Alphys wisely stopped a full body’s length away, having a really good guess on what was coming next.

 

“SEVEN DAYS!”  Undyne finally exploded.  She turned around to face them.  Alphys did a “keep it down” hand gesture at her girlfriend.  It was bad enough that they were both just finding about Papyrus and Sans’ troubles, no need to bring in the rest of the town in before they knew the full story.

 

“ _ SEVEN DAYS!”   _ repeated Undyne in what could only be described as the angry baby of a resentful  hiss and a vengeful whisper. She paced away a couple of steps then came back three, so now she was mere inches away from Papyrus’ face.

 

“ _ Sans was kid .. kidnapped by a monster that almost KI...KILLED YOU, and you waited  _ **_seven_ ** _ days to tell us?! _ ” she summarized through clenched teeth. 

 

“In my defense,” Papyrus said lifting a weak index finger at the scientist’s wrath “I was unconscious for most of that time”   He was saying that more for his benefit than anyone else’s, of course.  He would deal with his gnawing guilty conscience later, as he really didn’t have luxury to wallow in self recrimination right at that time.

 

Undyne pulled on her ponytail out of frustration.  

 

“Why didn’t… you… aahhhh?!” she asked.  “Don’t you trust us?”

 

Papyrus looked away ashamed.  He still believed he had done the right thing, just ...maybe not in the right way.  

 

“I … “ he started then stopped.  “Alphys, could you let me down?  I can’t be heartfelt being held like this”

 

The large lizard warrior chuckled a little embarrassed and let him down.  She then proceeded to bop him on the back of the head with her hand.  

 

“We care about you!” she stated echoing her girlfriend’s outrage.  

 

“I know. I KNOW!” Papyrus rubbed the back of his head.  He knew she had pulled her hit, otherwise he would have been sent flying across town and, while he was grateful for that much consideration, he wished she had waited until his back was fully healed to do it.  As it was, he could already feel his knees shaking under him.  

 

He sighed and put his hands inside his orange hoodie.  He hung his head.

 

“I’m sorry” he said looking at the ground.  “I do trust you guys …. It’s just …. It’s just that ….”

 

Several reasons went through his head.   _“I’m afraid”_ _“I seen you die before”, “I don't want to keep losing friends and family”, “This is my fight”_

_. _

_.. _

_ … _

 

_ “This is my fault” _

 

He remained silent.  

 

To his right, he heard Alphys give a long sigh and sat down with a heavy thud.  She patted the ground inviting him and Undyne to do the same.

 

She looked at both of them intensely.  A look that Sans had learned from her, or maybe she had learned it from him.  Either way, it bore into Papyrus soul.

 

“We're friends”  she said. “Let's BE friends”

 

Undyne took a deep breath and brushed her hair out of her eyes slowly, giving herself time to calm down.  She put her palms together in front of her face, as if she was praying, then tilted her hands towards Papyrus.  

 

“Ok.  From the beginning.  What happened 7 days ago?” she said. 

  
  


******

 

Papyrus explained as best as he could based on what he knew.  

 

Alphys and Undyne stayed quiet during the entire explanation. Alphys’ tail thumping and Undyne’s obsessive note taking on her phone, being the only clues to their concern and want of action.  When he was finally done, there was a bit of silence that whispered doubts into Papyrus mind.  The feeling that his friends didn’t quite believe him poked him here and there in his soul.  Why should they anyway?  After all, he had kept this horrible thing to himself even though he had been too weak to do anything about it.

 

“I’m sorry about your friend” Undyne’s voice cut through the fog of doubt.  He looked up and saw her pushing her glasses closer to her eyes.  

 

He gulped.  

 

Alphys grunted to his right.  She was discreetly wiping tiny tears from the corners of her eyes.  

 

Then Papyrus realized…

 

“I promise you Papyrus,  we’re going to find out what happened” added Undyne somberly.  

 

“Yeah… AND we're gonna get Sans back!” roared Alphys, totally forgetting her earlier apprehension about being too loud. 

 

Undyne smiled at her proudly.  

 

“Y..yes! You can count on us Papyrus!” 

 

Then Papyrus  _ knew _ he was not weak.  That his true strength was with his friends. 

 

******

.

..

…

….

 

_ Breathing was hard.   _

 

_ The air was too thick. Too stale.  Not enough.  Not enough for lungs that rejected it as soon as it made in.   _

 

_ His body fought itself.  It hated itself yet yearned to be accepted.   _

 

_ His hands trembled over his mouth stifling his whimpering.   _

 

_ -Quiet.  Just be quiet.  He’ll hear you.  He’ll find you.- _

 

_ He was anxious and afraid.  His thoughts led him nowhere.  _

 

_ He was lost.   _

 

_ And deep inside the thorny forest of his soul, he was  _ **_angry_ ** _.  _

 

_ He sat by the edge of the river.  Relatively speaking, this was the same spot him and Swap had used as a fishing spot  just a few (really?... had it only been days?) days ago.  In his world, however, there was no large, shady tree and there was no life in that river.  Just a rock, accompanied by more rocks. _

 

_ He might as well be one of those rocks.   _

 

_ He messed up.  He messed up so badly…. _

 

_ Breathing was so hard. The lump in his chest just grew with every passing moment, with every single, everlasting tick of the clock.  _

 

_ -Why was he still breathing? - _

 

_ His hands were scorched.  Well that happens when you grab a fire elemental with your bare hands, he guessed.  Especially an angry one.   _

 

_ He flexed them expecting pain.   _

 

_ They hurt.  But they didn’t hurt enough.  _

_ “SANS!!”  _

 

_ His body tensed up. His brother still sounded far away, yet he could already hear the harshness in his voice. _

 

_ No, no. Not now.  Not today.  _

 

_ -Never again.-  _

 

_ He paced about.   He knew he messed up.  He knew that his brother was furious.   _

 

_ “SANS!! COME HERE!!”  _

 

_ His brother sounded closer now.  Sans didn’t remember deciding to walk away or to follow the river.  He just suddenly found himself ducking under low hanging tree branches and clumsily climbing over rocks wet from the river’s spray.   _

 

_ He had no destination in his head.  All he knew was where he didn't want to be.   _

 

_ He reached an old and small wooden bridge.  A vague memory of him and his brother playing swords on it came to him.  Papyrus had declared it his new fortress with Sans as his second in command.  _

 

_ The unstoppable skeleton brothers.   _

 

_ Once upon a time.  A long, long time ago.  A fantasy never meant to be true. _

 

_ He put a hand on one of big posts anchoring the bridge.  Well. Papyrus … everyone …. Were going to find out soon anyway.  It wasn’t a secret that he wasn't really made to be a royal guard.  He never had even the smallest of chances. The only reason he even made it as a sentry was because of Papyrus.  He insisted he be made one.   _

 

_ And at the beginning, that had been great.  It didn’t matter that he was small or that his magic didn’t work quite right. Papyrus believed in him.  He took time to make sure to train him.  To correct him, if he made a mistake or fell asleep because he had been too tired from the previous day training.  _

 

_ He even defended him from other monsters.   _

 

_ He cared about him.  Papyrus was the only monster that did so.   _

 

_ Until he didn’t any more.   _

 

_ Somewhere along the line, something had gone wrong.   Papyrus spent more and more time training on his own or hanging out at Grillby’s.  Whenever he was home, he increasingly ignored his younger brother unless it was to get him to do chores around the house or do his sentry job.   _

 

_ Papyrus was always a driven skeleton, constantly claiming that he would become the next captain of the royal guard; it was his dream having hundreds under his command and being feared by everyone. _

 

_ Somewhere along the line “we” became “I”.   _

 

_ “We” became wrong.  _

 

_ He became “wrong”.   _

 

_ Dismissed.   _

 

_ Dismissed from being a sentry and soon, surely, as part of Papyrus’ crew.   _

 

_ On top of everything … on top of fucking everything …. The portal was gone.   Perhaps for a few days, perhaps forever.  He was trapped.   _

 

_ It was so hard to breathe.   _

 

_ He leaned over the edge looking at the rushing water under him.  His left hand clawed at the wooden post.  It hurt but it didn’t hurt enough.   _

 

_ “SANS!!”  his brother’s voice was behind him now.  Maybe just a few feet away.  He didn’t turn around.   _

 

_ “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?” He didn’t see his older brother’s smile.  His brother never smiled at him. “GRILLBY IS OUT COLD!”  _

 

_ “Fuck Grillby” said Sans fascinated by the current ‘FUCK HIM!” he yelled at the water.  _

 

_ “What is going on with you?” He heard suspicion in Papyrus’ voice. He was coming closer.  He knew, he knew. _

 

_ One... two … three steps. _

 

_ Wood against bone.  Bone against rock.   _

 

_ Breathing …. How do you breathe? _

 

_ It hurt.  _

 

_ But it didn’t hurt enough. _


	11. Grief Bound

“Sans” Fell heard himself saying.  

 

To his right something shuffled.  He felt weight on his chest and across his waist.

 

“It’s ok”

 

Fell opened his eyes.  He felt tears roll down his cheeks.  

 

He was sitting with his back against the corner of two stone walls. The light was too poor  to see anything clearly. 

 

He looked down and saw his brother sitting next to him with his head on his chest, he was hugging him rather awkwardly considering how they were both sitting.  However, he was earnest in this.  He had never seen Sans be so…

 

“Sans?” 

 

His brother hugged him tighter at the mention of the name.  He was trembling.  His clothes were wet.

 

“...no…” he said in a barely noticeable voice. “...i’m not…”

 

“SANS!” He grabbed his brother by the shoulders and pull him away from him roughly.  “WHAT IS WRONG WITH …. “

 

He stopped when he saw two tired blue and purple eyes looking up at him. Blue.  

 

“Where’s Sans?” The question came in one breath then realization in the next.   He pushed Blue away and scampered back to against the wall..  

 

The river. 

 

His right hand shook. 

 

He remembered a river.

 

He balled it into a fist and covered it with the palm of his left. 

 

Blue looked away.  A harsh blue and sweaty blush on his features.  He pulled up his knees and hid his mouth and nose behind them. 

 

Both their cloaks were gone and Fell didn’t remember removing the ropes around Blue’s wrists.  His collar was still in place though, even if the chain was no longer attached to the hook on his belt.

 

“Where are we?” asked Fell.

 

Blue shrugged his shoulders despondently.  He looked to be on the verge of shutting down.  Of giving up.  

 

Fell had seen that look before.  He clenched his teeth.    

 

He felt around his jacket for a hidden pocket.  He reached in and pulled out a small key and put it on the floor next to him.  Then felt around for another pocket.  This one was empty. 

 

_ Fuck! That was his last vial. _

 

Ok.  That was fine, he would be fine.  He didn’t need it.   Fuck this. He took off his jacket and threw it near Blue.

 

His eyes were adjusting to the low light.  He could now tell that they were inside a room and not a cave as he first suspected.  There were heavy wooden boxes in one corner, and a small table at another.  There were no windows.  The only source of light was a weak glow coming from under the only door leading in and out of the place.   Wherever they were, it was very humid.  Obviously not Snowdin, so it had to be Waterfall.  It wasn’t hot enough for the Hotlands.  

 

_ How in hell did they get there? _

 

He picked up the small key and got up slowly, giving his body time to get over his increasing lightheadedness.  He walked over to Blue.   The small skeleton eyes followed his movements but didn’t move from his spot.  

 

“Lift your head” 

 

Blue did so and Fell couldn’t help but feel pleased about the automatic response.  He reached for Blue’s collar and unlocked it.  He coiled the chain around it and waived it at Blue almost playfully.

 

“Don’t give me a reason, Sans” he said.  _ Blue  _ he corrected as an afterthought.

 

Blue looked at him and nodded.  His usually bright eyes were dim.  Especially his left.  Fell wondered if he was losing sight on it.  Dammit, where were they?  

 

“Report” he commanded. 

 

Blue looked at him confused.  

 

“Tell me what happened” explained Fell leaning forward.  

 

“You… don’t remember?” asked Blue

 

Fell glared.  “JUST TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!”

 

Blue shrunk away from him.  “You took us into Waterfall and we fell into a river” 

 

“HUH, WHY? I WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING!” argued Fell but visions of him running away through tall grass came to him.  He leaned back and got up.  

 

“You did!” insisted Blue a little encouraged by the fact that Fell wasn’t actively attacking him.  “You kept saying that we … had to move and… and … then those monsters started chasing us .... and we … we fell into this river and you kept saying that I had to trust you” 

 

Fell’s shoulders tensed up.  His hands shook as he balled them into fists.  He stood in front of blue with his feet spread apart and towered over him. 

 

Something red, something black.  Shadows sneaked around corners.    

 

“WHY DIDN’T YOU?”

_ -static-“Why didn’t you?”-static- _

 

Blue looked up startled. He moved slowly, trying to get into a better get up and ran away position.  

 

“We would’ve died” he explained in as even a tone he could manage despite feeling like he was going to explode  “We … we … were in a bad situation… if Undyne hadn’t come and pulled us out … I”

 

“CAPTAIN UNDYNE?  She was there?” 

 

“Yes…” 

 

*****

 

_ Undyne emerged from the river carrying two practically dead, but not quite skeletons under her arms.  Her crew cheered her on from the shore.   _

 

_ She tossed her bounty unto a small patch of tall grass.  She recognized one of them but the other one looked odd to her.   In fact, that one shouldn’t even be alive if her spies were correct.  If they gave bad information… well … they wouldn't get the chance to be wrong again.  _

 

_ Papyrus was out cold.  Possibly because she had punched him as soon as he had been in range.  Guy could never take a punch.   One of the reasons why he annoyed her.  The other one, the small one, was still awake though, even if only barely so.   _

 

_ She search her head for a name.  Surely she knew the guy’s name. Hm.  Nope.  Oh well. _

 

_ “You!” she commandeered as she pulled him back on his feet. Then she frowned when he immediately sat back down.  Not out of rebellion, but simply because he was just unable to stand up.  She sat on her haunches and stared at him.   _

 

_ This wasn’t -that guy-  Ok then.  She didn't need to replace her spies. Great.   _

 

_ “Who are you?” she asked.   _

 

_ “S… Sans” answered Blue half terrified and half fascinated about this new Undyne.  She was taller, certainly more muscled.  Maybe not as big as his Alphys but she was pretty close.  Her fin/hair was shorter.  And her eyes … her eyes were wilder.   _

 

_ Sans - Oh yeah, that was the name of the dusted one. Hm. This didn't make sense.   _

 

_ “It's not smart to lie to me”  she growled.   _

 

_ “Uh… I'm not lying ...  I'm...“ _

 

_ “YES YOU ARE!” she roared.  _

 

_ -static- maybe you are -static- _

 

_ “I… I'm Blue”  said Blue desperately.  _

 

_ Undyne smiled. “I'll let it go this time but…” She put a finger on his forehead “if you lie to me again. I'll put a hole riiiiggghhttt heeeerreee with my spears” _

 

_ She flicked at his forehead, causing him to yelp. “What is it with Papyrus and small pitiful creatures” she commented out loud causing laughter from her three minions. Blue never felt smaller.   _

 

_ “Heh, I guess you are kinda cute” she said with a sneer  “And you do look like that useless brother of his.  Were you related? Are you here to pay your sympathies?”   _

 

_ The way she pronounced the last word was so full of mocking that it physically hurt to hear it.  It hurt in a way he had never thought was possible.  He wanted them to hurt.  He wanted to get up and teach them a lesson in respect for the dead but, he was just too exhausted.  _

 

_ … too afraid. _

 

_ “Well?” asked Undyne impatiently. _

 

_ “Cousins …” said Blue getting quieter.  “Twice ... removed”   _

 

_ Undyne made a snorting sound.  Blue started to feel very hot again regardless of being dripping wet. _

 

_ “What are you two doing in my territory?  Papyrus knows full well that he needs to report to the Waterfall sentry section before coming into this area” asked Undyne tilting her head towards the unconscious skeleton. _

 

_ “I don’t … know…” _

 

_ Undyne spit,  then her eyes fell onto Blue’s collar and chain.  “I can’t wait to hear the story behind that….”  She turned to her comrades and did an exaggerated mime of injecting herself with something then a “coo coo” sound.  More laughter erupted.  _

 

_ Blue blushed hard.  He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  This Undyne was horrible.  _

 

_ -static- Kill them.  Kill them all -static- _

 

_ “Come blue boy!”  said Undyne pulling on Blue’s chain as she unhooked it from Fell’s belt.  “We’re going back to MY place” _

 

_ ******* _

 

“...Yes … she is the one who took us here” Blue looked away again “She’s not very nice…” 

 

Fell raised an eye ridge.  “Of course she isn’t.  You don’t get to be Captain by being “nice””

 

“My Alphys is very nice and she’s Captain!!” snapped Blue.  

 

“Your world is pathetic” scoffed Fell.  

 

Blue was on his feet in an instant.  He body slammed a surprised Fell into the wall.  He pounded his fists into Fell’s chest.

 

“IT’S NOT!!!”  He screamed.  His voice hitching.   “IT’S NOT!! IF IT’S SO PATHETIC, WHY AM I HERE??!  WHY DID  **YOU** BRING ME HERE??!!  AM I NOT AS PATHETIC?!” 

 

Fell just looked at him.  Blue knew that his hits were doing nothing to him.   He … he really didn’t want to hurt him … no … yes … NO.   Why wasn’t he saying  _ anything?!! _

 

Blue pushed away from Fell and covered his face with his hands.  He stumbled away blindly.  

 

Everything was red.  

 

Everything was wrong.  

 

_ Why wasn’t his brother here?  Where was he?  Did he even care where he was?   _

 

_ -static- If he did -static- He would be here - static- _

 

He gulped.  His chest hurt.  Why was he thinking like that?  What was wrong with him?

 

Why was breathing so hard?

 

“Sans …”

 

He turned around to face Fell.  “I am not …”  he started but his energy was spent, he swayed and a sigh escaped his mouth as he fainted.  

 

He never hit the floor, however, Fell getting to him in time to catch him.  He carried him over to where his jacket was and laid him there.  He started putting his jacket back on but changed his mind and instead, he folded so it served as a pillow to the smaller skeleton.  

 

Fell sat down, his back to the wall and facing the door. Captain Undyne caught them.  He needed to come up with a plan but Blue’s outburst kept repeating over and over in his head.  

 

_ Why … Why … Why …. _

 

He shook his head in an attempt to clear it.  The shaking in his hands was getting worse.  

 

_ Goddamit. _

 

Blue groaned in his sleep, distracting him.  The cracks on his face were all healed up but his left eye still had this weird looking bruise around it.  In fact, there seemed to be bruises all over his body.  Most noticeably around his neck and face. 

 

He lifted Blue’s shirt.  His soul was almost overcome with the taint of poison. He didn’t have much time left.  

 

He hovered his hand over it.  Such a strong soul in such a weak body. 

 

Just like his brother.  

 

He had tried.  He had tried to make him stronger.  He -did- grow stronger.  Just... not enough.

 

But now he knew better.  He knew what to do.  

 

Red was gone, but with Blue... 

 

….with Blue, he would get a second chance.  He would save him and make him truly strong.

 

They would be unstoppable.

 

And everyone would pay.


	12. Determination Bound

Undyne was a practical monster.  She kept a weapon in every room and a back up weapon in every possible other space.  Not that she really needed them, no.  She could summon her magic spears any time. But having physical weapons both visible and non visible at all times, did wonders for morale AND intimidation.  

 

It put that touch of “Yeah, I can kill you any time I want” along with a pinch of “I’m not afraid of having these weapons readily available to you; I can still kill you any time I want” in her fortress.  Also, they looked amazing framed by her red drapes.

 

In any case, these drapes were the last thing on her mind, as she sat in her biggest and comfiest chair, the first and foremost cart in her train of thought was her latest capture.  The guard she had posted right outside the door of her “dungeon” (which was really her basement. She rarely entertained guests, so she had never given having a dungeon put in much consideration) had reported that her prisoners had gotten into an argument, then been quiet ever since.

 

That had been a couple of hours ago.  

 

She was disappointed.  She had expected at least an escape attempt from them by now.  She even ordered food to taunt them with and everything. Nothing fancy.  Just some water and moldy bread, perfect for setting the tone of their ultimate and tragic end.

 

But pffffttt, she was bored now. You couldn’t count on anybody.  Not even prisoners.

 

She reached for the red vial resting on the table next to her chair.  Undyne flipped it upside down then back right side up.  The liquid moved fast and left no visible trail behind it.  Other than the deep red coloring, one would think it was plain water.  Yet, this was far from water as it was described to her.

 

Supposedly, humans were born with something like this inside of them. It was what made them so fearsome. Alphys claimed that this was an exact replica.  

 

Undyne looked at the vial skeptically.  Well, you could trust that wannabe scientist only so far.   That’s why she hadn’t jumped on the “let’s-try-this-new-thing-that-makes-monsters-strong” bandwagon.    

 

Besides, why would she risk her own neck when she had subordinate necks to try it on? She had had plenty of dead weight she could either try and improve or, get rid off. 

 

Her cellphone rang.  She checked the screen and rolled her eyes.

 

“Hey” she answered.  “Yeah they’re here. ...   **They.** Yes. ...  No, it's not the brother ... I don’t know who the other one is! A cousin or whatever. Never seen him before in my life.  Kinda weird looking too.  Mmhhh, mmmhh. ... Look, I’m not a delivery monster.  If you want to see them, you’re gonna have to come  here … Ok. Fine”

 

Undyne sighed as she ended the call.  She really disliked the lizard scientist but she was a convenient ally to have and, a good tumble in the sheets.

 

Maybe she wouldn’t be bored that night after all.  

 

In the meantime...

 

She got up from her chair and summoned a spear.  Like they said, “If the rock slide doesn’t come to you; you start the rock the slide”  

 

******

 

Blue slept deeply.  His hp was dropping slowly but steadily.  Fell calculated that he had, maybe another day, if he wasn’t able to have some more healing food to hold off the damage from the poison.  

 

Fell rocked back and forth while he sat keeping watch.  He needed Sans … Blue... to be awake and ready to go at a moment’s notice.  He doubted that Captain Undyne would let them go easily.  He and Sans had missed guard duty.  Also, he had come into her territory without announcing himself.  He knew that physical punishment was the best case scenario here.  

 

But he … and Blue ...simply didn’t have the time.

 

He wished he had set off to see Gerson sooner but … but … Blue had been too weak? … he couldn't quite remember.   How long had he been here?  

 

In anycase, Gerson was no doctor … not officially anyway… but he was very clever and knew stuff and people that could take care of problems.  He had helped him before.  He… he was pretty sure.  

 

His hands were shaking worse than ever.  Where was his vial.  Why were monsters always taking him damn stuff?!

 

.

..

...

 

_“SANS! What are you doing?! Where’s my coffee?”_

 

_His younger brother jumped startled and dropped what he had been examining in his hand on the kitchen counter.  A clatter of glass attracted Fell’s attention._

 

_“What is that?” he asked suspiciously._

 

_Sans practically launched for the small glass vial, catching it before it rolled off the counter.  “It’s nothing, boss!”_

 

_“Yeah, right.  It’s certainly something enough to be distracting you from your duties!” Fell walked over to Sans and extended his right hand.  He flexed his fingers at his brother.  Reluctantly, Sans placed the vial in his brother’s hand._

_“Now, go get me my coffee!” commanded Fell “You know the GREAT PAPYRUS needs his morning brew”_

 

_“Right, boss” said Sans and went over to the coffee pot to pour the drink in his brother’s preferred mug.  He kept sneaking worried looks over to Fell as he examined the red vial._

 

_“What is this anyway?” he said bringing it close to his eye.  “A new kind of monster candy?  You know you’re not supposed to be eating sweets before meals”_

 

_“Uh … no….” Sans brought over a steaming cup of black coffee to his brother._

 

_“What is it then?”_

 

_“Uh…”_

 

_“Saaannsss” intoned Fell impatiently._

 

_“It's something that it's supposed to … .make you stronger”  explained Sans with a sigh._

 

_“To make you stronger?  HM.”  Fell took a sip of his coffee and regarded the vial in his hand with renewed interest.  “Where did you get it?”_

 

_“Undyne….”_

 

_Fell spit out the coffee he had been drinking.  “UNDYNE?!  She was in town??! Why wasn’t I briefed on this?!!”_

 

_“No, no, not Undyne herself” corrected Sans as he eyed the new mess he had to clean “One of her crew gave it to me.  He … he said that she wanted me to try it out”_

 

_“YOU?”  Fell put down the mug in the sink and wrapped his hand around the vial possessively._

 

_“Yeah….”  Sans already hated where this was going._

 

_“YOU ...You, specifically” insisted Fell staring him down._

 

_“Yes…” responded Sans barely able to keep his annoyance from his voice._

 

_“By name!”_

 

_“Yes … well, no.  He just said that Undyne wanted me to have it.”_

 

_“NYE HE HE HE!!” laughed Fell in triumph.  “Surely she must’ve meant me!  I am the best sentry in town after all!”_

 

_“Oh, C’mon Boss!” Sans tried to to take the vial from Fell’s hand but, the taller skeleton was faster than him and easily kept it away from his reach._

 

_They struggled for a little bit but Sans soon gave up on getting the vial back, stood back and dug his hands inside his jacket sulkily.  “Fine … whatever…”_

 

_Fell eyed him then the vial.  It was probably a prank from the guardsmen.  Alcohol most likely.  His younger brother had never handled alcohol well.  Might as well keep it away from him and keep him from getting intoxicated. He popped open the vial and brought it to his mouth._

 

_“Uh … boss”_

 

_“I TOLD you Sans.  You’re not getting this back”_

 

_“No boss, it’s just that …”_

 

_“WHAT, Sans?”_

 

_Sans pointed to the counter at a small box that looked like it had contained the vial before.  Still in the box was a small syringe._

 

_“You’re supposed to inject it…”_

 

_._

_.._

_…._

 

Fell heard the door unlock.  He scrambled to his feet using the wall as support.  He eyed Blue and positioned himself so he was between the unconscious skeleton and whomever was coming in. He dug his hands in his pants pockets to hide their shaking.  

 

A greater dog guardsman came in and held the door open for Undyne.  He then positioned himself next to the door as Undyne walked closer to Fell.  

 

“Hello, hello” she said, casually holding a magic spear over her left shoulder.  She ran her eyes from the top of Fell’s head down to his feet, then a quick flick towards Blue’s sleeping form.  “Slept well? ...  Papyrus, right?  

 

“Yes, Captain Undyne.  I am the great Papyrus.  One of your sentries positioned in Snowdin!” responded Fell as he did the traditional guardsman salute.  “I am hono…”

 

“Yeah, yeah, save it” interrupted Undyne condescendingly.  She pointed her spear to Blue. “Tell him to get up and show some respect”

 

Fell raised his hands apologetically.  “I am so sorry m’am.  Don’t bother with him.  He’s sick and unable to pay his respects at the moment.  I … I … will take whatever punishment you deem necessary”

 

“Hm … Well, he didn’t look too hot when I first saw him.  I just thought all members of your family looked raggedy like that!”

 

She laughed.

 

“My … family? … Oh yeah …”  

 

The laughter continued for a bit more until, Undyne got bored again and pointed her spear right under Fell’s chin.   “Seriously though Papyrus, What were you doing sneaking around my turf?” She growled.

 

Fell knew better than to try to get away from the spear.  Instead he held his ground as best as he could, even though the room around him insisted to swim around him.  

 

“I apologize Captain.  I did not mean to “sneak around””  He said with practiced confidence “My recruit didn’t know any better and got too excited to be in your territory.  He is just beginning his training, but that’s no excuse.  This is all my fault.  I will take the punishment”  

 

“Oh … really?” asked Undyne retrieving her spear “That’s funny, because when -I- found you, you were the one that look really “spooked””

 

_Shit…_

 

“In fact, the moment you saw me you started flailing at me.  I had to....”  She balled up her left hand into a fist and threw a punch that stopped just a mere half an inch from Fell’s face …. “Calm you down”

 

“I … I… I’m sorry … I must’ve confused you with someone … else” Fell stammered.  He wracked his brain for memories of what had happened. “I will …”

 

“Take punishment … sure”  said Undyne rolling her eyes.  “You must really be a masochist or...”

 

She looked around the room and spotted the discarded collar and chain next to Blue.  “a sadist,  Or both!”  She smiled toothily at him.

 

Fell looked at her confused.  “That … that was just for training purposes”

 

“Aaah, It didn’t quite work out huh?” Undyne asked her smile disappearing.  “After all, you let your ‘recruit’ ‘run around’ so much that you two end up in the river”   

 

“I …” Fell started, but he was unable to continue.  

 

Undyne put her spear back on her left shoulder and leaned back to regard him with half lidded eyes.  At that moment in time, she might as well been 20 feet tall.  She licked her lips.

 

“Where’s your brother?” she baited.

 

“He … he is training … He…” He bit.

 

“Where is your DEAD brother, Papyrus?” she asked again reeling him in.

 

“De..ad..?”  Fell stumbled back.  How did she know?  How long had she known?.... He had been so careful…

 

She pulled on the line harder.  “He broke his neck, right?”  She looked up  “Did you cry?”

 

Fell grinded his teeth.   His head started to hurt.   The world started to drip red.  

 

“Pfff, It’s not like he wasn’t a weakling.  Nothing more than a pet to you, amirite?”  continued Undyne.  She enjoyed seeing Fell squirm under her taunts.  “What was his name again? ….’Nothing’?”

 

“Sans…” responded Fell, even though he knew he should just keep quiet.

 

“Aaaahhh!” she turned to her greater dog guardsman “His name was Sans…. “ She did an exaggerated nod.  “Tell me, tell me Papyrus … Did Saaaannsss, tell you I dismissed him?”

 

“what…?”

 

“Yeah, I did.  He was such a waste of resources.” she chuckled. “I only kept him around because he kept YOU out of my hair”   

 

“Cap.. tain… I …”

 

“Shut up Papyrus” Undyne leaned forward threateningly.  “I’m cleaning house.  I’m getting rid of all the trash under my command.  Either shape up or be dusted.  He was given the chance to become strong and he still screw THAT up!”

 

Fell felt hollow.  Anger, sadness, shock … all were meaningless to him.  He just … couldn’t …

 

He saw Undyne take out a vial from her pants pocket.  He saw her shoving it in his face mockingly.  She saw her mouth the words “weak” and “steal” and “waste”

 

He heard her.  Yet he …

 

Just…

 

... wasn’t there.

.

..

…

 

“SHUT UP!”

 

Bones erupted from the ground.  The greater dog guard was hit directly under the chin, breaking it and  sending him sprawling against the door.  Another bone hit Undyne on the ribs and another cut her across her eye.  It was only her training that saved her from being hurt any further.  

 

The female fish monster looked at Papyrus and, her eyes went wide when she realized that the source of the attack had not been him but the little monster behind him.  He was on his hands and knees with his left hand raised in command.   His magic was a sickly purple and it was already fading away, but it had been powerful.  Too powerful.  The entire room was still ringing from its influence.  

 

“Why you little shit!” she roared summoning her spears.  She stopped her attack when Fell threw himself over Blue, his eyes glowing a fierce red.  

 

Undyne heard more of her crew running over.  She signaled the firstcomers to stay back and to pull greater dog out of the room.

 

No.  Just dusting them would serve no purpose and it would be too kind to them.  Alphys may have been on the right track after all.  She dissipated her spears and smiled.  Yes, this could still be interesting.

 

She threw the vial over to Papyrus.  

 

“I see that you DO like to share” she said.  

 

Papyrus eyes stopped glowing.  He looked at her then over to Blue.  He was crying bright red tears into his hands.  

 

“Doctor Alphys should be here in a couple of hours”  she said as she walked out of the room  “Behave and I’ll let her take a look at your new little pet.  Maybe she can even save him”  

 

She closed the door behind her.

  
“From you”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beginning of the end. There will be another update during the long 4th of July weekend. I'm not sure which day. I recently opened for quick post-it sketch requests over at my Tumblr http://indulgenceahoy.tumblr.com and I been getting a lot of Broken Bonds requests for some reason. So if you want to see some really quick and gritty illustrations regarding this story, or want to make a request yourself. Send me an ask on my tumblr! :)


	13. Prison Bound

Papyrus stood in a room that looked like his own but wasn’t his.  He looked at a empty bed that had obviously been used but not recently.  He looked at the ropes still tied to the bed frame.  The worn marks on the wood indicating that someone had pulled on those pretty hard.  

 

His mind was leaping, his soul ached with dread.  The cloth on his hands the only clue on who had been that someone.  

 

Sans’ scarf had laid discarded at the foot of the bed.   It had been the first thing he spotted when he entered Red’s bedroom.  His shoulder pads had been there too.  His little brother loved those things since they made him look broader than he actually was.  He … was silly that way.   

 

He would’ve never just discarded them on the floor like that.  If he had to take them off... willingly, he would’ve folded and tucked away his garments neatly, somewhere.

 

He just was ... that way.

 

He clutched the scarf to his chest.  Where was he?

 

“Paps … did you find any….” asked Undyne as she entered the room.  She stopped when she saw the scarf on Papyrus’ hands.    

 

“He was here” said Papyrus somberly.  

 

Undyne smiled encouragingly.  “We’ll find him”  

 

“We have to Undyne …” said Papyrus letting out a frightened sigh.  He looked over to the pillow next to the discarded ropes around the bed frame.

 

It had red stains all over it.  

 

*******

 

_Undyne and Dr. Pewter were in the doctor’s lab putting together an assortment of things that they might need on their journey to Underfell.  Papyrus had been forced to take a nap under Alphys’ watch.  He was going to need as much energy as he could gather, not only for the trip, but for whatever confrontation was waiting for them._

 

_Ideally, he would be asked to take at least a couple of days more of rest, since he seemed to be unable to walk for extended periods of time without having to sit down, or lean on something.  Papyrus had always been a rather take it slow individual. Not because of physical limitations (he was actually quite fit), but because he simply didn’t like moving all that much.  However, considering how anxious he was on going to go get his brother back, the fact that he just couldn’t get up and go, made his limitations even more obvious._

 

_“I don’t get it”  Undyne said.  “Paps, is healed up.  Why is he still weak?”_

 

_“I believe it to be a lingering effect from the poison damage he received” said the Doctor off handedly, putting some food in their travel bags.  “He should be fine though, it just takes a while to get over stuff like that.  It didn’t help that he kept putting so much stress on his body while his other, more serious injuries were healing up”  She clicked her tongue._

 

_“Wait … what? ...Poison damage?” asked Undyne incredulously._

 

_“Yes.  It was very minor compared to his other injuries, but still nasty business” said Dr. Pewter reaching over the counter for her notes.  “He was lucky he got expert medical attention right away.  I was able to come up with a remedy in just a couple of hours”_

 

_The small demon doctor beamed at the scientist.  Undyne could identify with the feeling of unappreciated pride, even if she also felt like the doctor was just being a show off.  And she knew all about showing off._

 

_“Doctor…”  Undyne’s mind was racing.  Papryrus had told her that Sans had been attacked before him.  That the attack had been strong enough to crack his skull and halve his hp with one hit.  And while it was true that Sans wasn’t exactly the strongest of monsters, she also remembered Paps mentioning that Fell’s magic looked tainted._

 

_She only knew of one thing that could have that kind of effect on monster magic. The doctor’s comments had only raised her suspicions.  She hoped it wasn’t what she thought it was._

 

_“Doctor … could I take a look at your notes?”_

 

_******_

 

Undyne ran her fingers over the dried up stains.  “This color….” she started saying.  

 

“It's the color of DT, isn’t it?”  said Papyrus.  It felt like it had been a long time ago, but he still had clear memories of being in the lab with Undyne and her creations.   The samples on her table.   Sans had been fascinated by the color until he had found out about its true origin and its effects on monster kind.  Together, they had disposed of the last of it safely.   Undyne swearing that DT would never be created nor used again for the sake of everyone.  

 

Papyrus had also seen this color in his nightmares.  In visions of endless battles showered by golden light.  He seen it emanating from the kid.  He seen it on his clothes.  

 

So long ago.  It all felt like it had been a fever dream now.  

 

Now, now he was seeing it again in a world that had never experienced the eight kid.  Red mentioned never having seen a human before, and Papyrus secretly hoped that he would never do so.   He never thought his wish would come true in such a way.

 

“Papyrus it's gonna be ok” he heard Undyne say.  He realized that he must’ve zoned out at the memories of DT and Red.  He shook his head.

 

“We … we are not even sure if IT IS DT” she said grabbing his shoulders.  “Even … even … if it is.  It doesn’t mean Sans is infected with it.   You… you said that this guy … Fell … wanted him alive and…”

 

“Fell…” growled Papyrus.  He looked down at his brother’ scarf.  “We’re wasting time … we need to find out where he took Sans!”  He stomped out of the room and tied the scarf around his neck.  “Alphys!”

 

“Paps!” Undyne started following him but then thought better about it and went back into Red’s room.  She sighed and took a deep breath centering herself.   She needed to be what she was best:  A scientist. And a scientist gathered facts.  

 

She examined the stains more closely.   She couldn’t deny that everything pointed to them being caused by DT.  Going by the dryness, it had had to be at least a day to two days since they happened.  She looked around the room. There were vestiges of healing food and bandages on the counter near the bed.   Someone had obviously been taking care of Sans.   However, she couldn’t find any containers or remnants of poison remedies.   Just left over isicle water.   That would NOT help at all with the poison.  Which meant that either Fell didn’t know, didn’t care or didn’t have the means to treat it.  The third option would explain why a little more hopefully why the house was empty when they came upon it.  Fell might’ve taken Sans somewhere else to be cured.  

 

Unless Sans had … not survived … and Fell … just left… but that was just being pessimistic.  

 

“NO!” she heard Papyrus shout.  

 

Undyne ran out of the room and looked downstairs.  Alphys was holding an ornate open box and inside the box was….

 

Monster dust.  

 

“No, no, no, no, no, no!” rambled Papyrus.   His soul could tell it was skeleton dust.  He grabbed at the box but Alphys kept it away from him a bit panicked by his reaction.  

 

“Papyrus! Calm down! Calm down! We don’t know if …”   She pushed him, making him fall on his rear.  She closed the box she had found in the living room.  He hands were shaking, from both her morbid discovery and Papyrus reaction.  “Papyrus, please …”

 

Undyne flew down the stairs and placed a comforting hand on Alphys’ arm.  The female lizard nodded at her indicating that she was alright, then she kneeled in front of Papyrus, who looked ashamed of himself.  

 

Alphys put the box down and opened it again.  Inside it, the telltale silver color shimmered in the early morning light.  To all three monsters, it was disarming to see it contained inside a box like that. Disrespectful even.  In Underswap, when a monster died, their dust was only contained for a long as necessary to take it where it could be released back to the world.  Some of it would be sprinkled on the monster’s favorite things, if they had wished to, but otherwise it would be given back to the wind and the earth.  They were, in a way, setting them free.

 

To keep their dust locked up in a box like that … it was akin to keeping them prisoner.

 

Maybe things were different in Underfell.  It still didn’t feel right to Papyrus.

He reached out a trembling hand to the dust.  He closed his eyes and concentrated as he let his magic search for the remnants of the soul that once inhabited this body.  In his mind’s eye he saw a young skeleton with red eyes.  

 

He hung his head.  He was ashamed that he was relieved.  Tears fell unto his lap.  

 

“It’s Red” he said to his companions.  “Fell’s little brother. His … Sans... Oh my god.  He IS dead.  Oh no… oh no….”

 

He covered his face with his hands.  Orange tears escaping from in between his fingers.   Undyne and Alphys looked at each other sadly.  They both held their hands over the dust to pay their respects.  

 

“Oh my gosh, he did look like Sans” said Undyne outloud, earning a raised eye ridge from Alphys.  She covered her mouth in an “oops” motion.  “I’m sorry” she mumbled.  

 

Still, she closed her eyes and her mind marveled.  Papyrus had not lied. Yes, they were obviously in an alternate world, but so far she hadn’t seen any other monsters she recognized, as they snuck around in the early morning hours to the Underfell brother’s house.  He had said that they had met monsters that looked like them, yet they were different.  Different timelines and all that.  

 

Now … now she had seen what Sans’ alternate had looked like in a ghostly vision … wow that was just … incredible! They were practically twins … Oh my god what was wrong with her?   She had a dead guy in front of her!

 

Still … she wondered what her alternate was like ….

 

No, no, no, wrong place and time to think about stuff like this.  She needed to be comforting to Papyrus.  She needed to find her friend Sans.   No time for geeking out.  Bad Undyne, bad Undyne.

 

She opened one eye and found Alphys’ looking at her.  “Are you done?”

 

“Um… yeah … mhhh mmhhh” Undyne said blushing and chewing on her lips.

 

Alphys picked up the box again and took it to a table next to a boarded up window.  A little bit of morning light came through in between the boards.  She placed the open box so this light was hitting the monster dust.  

 

“There you go.  Some light for you.  Hope it feels nice” she said.  

 

Undyne got up and sat next to Papyrus who was still sobbing.  She awkwardly put an arm around him.   She didn’t know what to say other than…

 

“Sorry”

 

*****

 

_“Sorry”_

 

.

..

…

 

_“Sorry my ass! Start over!”_

 

_._

_.._

_…_

 

_“Sorry”_

 

_“Clean that mess! I am tired of your excuses”_

 

_._

_.._

_…_

 

_“Sorry”_

 

_“You know what? Whatever, I’m going to Grillby’s”_

 

_._

_.._

_…_

 

_“Hold my hand!”_

 

_“No”_

 

_“Sorry”_

.

..

….

 

“SORRY! I AM SO SORRY!” screamed Blue in a panic. He was curled up on himself with his forehead flat on the floor  “I DIDN’T MEAN TO… I DIDN’T WANT TO!”

 

“Sans! SANS!” yelled Fell trying to keep him from bashing his head.  It took all of his strength to just keep him restrained enough.  “BLUE!”

 

The mention of his nickname had the desired effect and Blue stopped fighting him.  He continued sobbing into his hands.  Fell wondered where all this energy was coming from considering that just a few minutes before the small skeleton had been out cold.  

 

“I … KILLED THEM … I KILLED THEM BOTH!” sobbed Blue.

 

“No … you didn’t”  Fell kinda wished he had, but figured to keep that comment to himself.  “They … they got what they deserved”

 

Blue looked up at Fell.  His eye lights were barely there.  The bruise around his left eye was darker.  He was breathing in gulps, on the edge of another breakdown.   Still, he looked at him hopefully.  Ready to believe anything Fell said.

 

“I … i… didn’t kill?” he asked.

 

“No”

 

Blue smiled and for a whisper of a moment he looked exactly like the first time he had met him.   Cheery.  Optimistic …. Not dying.

 

“I … I am … so glad”  Blue said and tackled Fell with a hug.  They both fell against a wall.  Through the hug Fell could feel that Blue was trembling violently and that his temperature was really high.    Whatever time he had left, he probably had just cut down by at least half with his little display of magic.  

 

_The idiot._

 

_The foolish idiot._

 

Fell returned the hug.  

 

_“Sorry”_


	14. Blood Bound

_“A 100 push ups” said Fell.  Him and Blue stood in the middle of the Underfell home living room._

 

_“Only a 100?”  teased Blue.  “I do more than that to warm up”_

 

_“500 then” growled Fell, rubbing his temple. So far, he had spent 4 hours, 37 minutes  with Blue.  Exactly 4 hours and 36 minutes too long. However, if Blue insisted on becoming his *~brother~* he wasn't going to make it easy.  So far he had him clean the entire house, repair the sink. Write a 100 page essay on the awesomeness of being his brother (he didn't read it but secretly stash it away for later).  So far this slightly, perhaps younger?, version of his brother had been pretty… diligent._

 

_Huh._

 

_“Sigh.  Fine.  If you insist on going easy on me” said Blue with a shrug.  He kneeled down and placed his hands in front of him._

 

_“One handed” added Fell, annoyed.  He crossed his arms._

 

_“Oh, ho, ho, now it's getting interesting”  Blue smiled and put his left hand behind his back and extended his legs behind him.   “One!” he counted._

 

_They both counted each repetition out loud.  At the beginning Fell was only mildly interested, but he started getting more invested the higher the number of repetitions went.  By the 200 mark he could barely hide that he was at least a little bit impressed._

 

_By the 300 mark Blue was regretting his big mouth.  His arm shook with exertion and it was getting a lot harder to complete a full push up.  Still, he refused to give up.  He stopped counting alongside Fell and just concentrated on not thinking on how many repetitions were left._

 

_Fell smirked.  He circled the small skeleton as he struggled more and more on the challenge.  He WAS impressed but he would be dammed if he admitted it to Blue.  Sans could barely do a 100 on a good day. Maybe he had been too lenient on his brother._

 

_At the 336 mark Blue lingered on the low part of the push up a little too long.  He grunted and sweat stained the floor under him._

 

_Fell sighed and pushed him over with his foot.  Blue yelped and scrambled back into a sitting position._

 

_“Hey!!” he complained, although his eyes betrayed his relief to have an excuse to not continue the challenge “I … I was almost done”_

 

_“The Great Papyrus doesn’t have time for your silliness”  said Fell walking away._

 

_“My silliness!?” Blue got up rubbing his right arm  “You’re the one that ….”_

 

_Fell waved a bored dismissal and went into the kitchen. It was getting close to dinner time and he needed to get ready for his night sentry shift “Sans!” He called out._

 

_“Yes?” asked Blue politely, although he was not entirely sure why he needed to yell.  He was right behind him._

 

_“No!, … not you.  Sans ...  My brother Sans”  clarified Fell exasperated.  “You … you are just a blue ... thing”_

 

_“Aha!!” exclaimed Blue with stars in his eyes “So you do think of him as your BROTHER!”_

 

_Fell stopped in the middle of taking a drink of water.  “Well, of course he is my brother”  If he was a less dignified monster, he would have added a “duh” at the end._

 

_“So …. So…. I don’t get it”  said Blue.  “Why do you have him call you “Boss””?_

 

_Fell looked at the water left over in his glass and swished it around.  “You are a nosy one, aren’t you?”  He said._

 

_Blue blushed.   “Um … well … it just doesn’t make ANY SENSE.  I don’t see why he HAS TO earn the right to call you brother!  I mean you two ARE BROTHERS.  You two LOVE EACH OTHER, right?”_

 

_Fell dropped the glass into the sink where it shattered._

 

_“Get out of my house” he growled.  “I have wasted enough time on YOU”_

 

_Blue jerked back a little bit, startled by the change in mood, but he recuperated and stood his ground._

 

_“Fine.  But first admit that you just like being a BULLY!” he said “Red is just too nice to tell you that!”_

 

_“Who the fuck is Red? Is that what you call Sans?” Fell looked annoyed at the nickname given to his brother but, at least he looked a little less intimidating than just a moment before._

 

_“Uh … yeah … that’s what Paps nicknamed him, because …  you know we both have the same name and all ….”_

 

_“Paps” repeated Fell under his breath.  He hadn’t heard that nickname since Sans was very young .   “What are you, FIVE?  You should be calling your brother by his proper name”_

 

_“Papyrus likes it when I call him “Paps”” argued Blue “He loves it!”_

 

\------------------ Laughter -----------------------

 

Blue could see Fell answering him but there was no sound.

 

He remembered Fell saying something about love making you “weak” and them getting into another argument.  … Right?

 

\----------- Maybe.  Maybe not ------------------

 

The scene froze.  Blue realized that he had been looking at a monitor screen.  Or a TV.  Or a projection. He really couldn't tell in the darkness that he was in.   

 

“Oh”

 

\----------- We can watch something else---------

 

“No. That's OK.  I … How …. did I get here?”

 

\--------- Silly.  We're always inside our heads ----

 

“Uh…”  Blue rubbed his left eye.

 

\------ Does it hurt?-----------

 

“Yeah. Kinda.”

 

A hand reached out and touched the left side of his face.  The touch send sparks through Blue's  entire body.  His mind reeled and rebelled against it.  This was wrong.  A dream. A lie.  

 

He looked up and saw a child like form smiling at him. They wore a white mask that was both happy and sad.  

 

\------------ Good ---------------

 

Blue wanted to slap their hand away but he was frozen in place.  “Who are you?”

 

\----- I'm. Everyone. ------ @@##@#@ ---- I'm nobody ------ Laughter -------

 

Blue forced his trembling  right hand to move and carefully put it on their hand stroking his face.  “Let's. .. let's try this again.  I'm Blue… uh...Sans…”

 

\----- I know ---------

 

The creature thankfully stopped stroking the left side of his face. Blue sighed.  

 

“What is your name?”  

 

\------@ ---- $$$ ---- I'm everyone ---------@@@

 

“Surely you have a name”  

 

\--------- I have had many ---------

 

They recited a list of names in quick succession. Visions of other monsters and human children flashed around the creature.  They ended their list with

 

“Gaster”

 

They tilted their heads.  

 

\------- Maybe I'll be “Blue” too? -------

 

They touched their mask and it changed from a generic face to one that resembled Blue's.  They hummed to themselves happily.

 

Blue stared at them in disbelief.  “Why are you…”

 

Voices.   One of them was Fell. The other one was female.  It sounded familiar…

 

“Undyne?” he asked confused. Her voice started getting louder and louder.  

 

\----------- Mmhhh, what a shame, reality -------------

 

Blue cracked his eyes open.  Through his blurry vision he could hear Undyne talking about Fell being a masochist?

 

With wakefulness came instant awareness of his body’s poor condition.  He really didn't want to move, so he concentrated on what was being said instead.  

 

_….“After all, you let your ‘recruit’ ‘run around’ so much that you two end up in the river”   …._

 

… …. ….

 

\----------- What a bitch -------------

 

“Language” thought Blue but he really didn’t disagree.

 

….. _“Where is your DEAD brother, Papyrus?”....._

 

Blue’s eyes flew open.  He tilted his head to get a better look at the situation.  Fell stood in front of him while Undyne stood very close to him.  She carried on talking about Red in a horrible way.  He felt that the anger he had felt before at the River swell up in his chest again.  

 

\------------- She deserves pain --------------

 

Blue blinked and saw the child with their mask back to “normal”  They held their right hand next to the mouth of the laughing part of the mask.  They giggled.  Then they brought up their left hand to the sad side of their mask and mimed wiping tears from their eyes.

 

_“Broke his neck right?”  “Did you cry?”_

  


\----------- Poor, poor, Fell ---------------

_“Pfff, It’s not like he wasn’t a weakling.  Nothing more than a pet to you, amirite?”  continued Undyne.  She enjoyed seeing Fell squirm under her taunts.  “What was his name again? ….’Nothing’?”_

 

\----------- He used to be fun ---------

 

Blue hated that monster.    How dare she? He looked at Fell.  There was red aura surrounding him.  It looked to have a life of its own.  It wiggled and contorted around him.  However, it looked like it was fading at the edges.  

 

 _“Sans…”_  

 

“Yes?” said Blue quietly.  

 

\-------------  He wants you to kill her -------------------------@@@@%%%

 

\---- It would be soooo easy ---

 

The child did a pirouette.  

 

“I …. I … Can’t” said Blue

 

\------ There were seven of me -------  once ------ they were all killed --- it’s surprisingly easy to die.

 

“I can’t”  

 

_“He was so weak that he couldn’t even take advantage of the one chance I gave him to become strong”  taunted Undyne holding a DT vial in front of Fell._

 

The child walked over and coaxed Blue up.  

 

\---------------- It’s easy------------------

 

They kneeled next to Blue.  The small skeleton was trembling.  Her voice was grating.  His soul felt like it was breaking apart.  

 

_“But noooooo….YOU just had to steal it!”  she continued.   Fell stood there …. Just frozen._

 

“No….”

 

They made a gun shape with the fingers of their right hand.

 

Blue raised his hand.  Purple energy crackled at his finger tips.

 

\------------------ You just have to point --------------

 

_“At least nothing went to waste, when he had the courtesy to off himself!”_

 

\-------------- And shoot -----------------------

 

**“SHUT UP!!!!”**

_***********_

 

It was so easy to die.

 

Too easy.  

 

Underswap Undyne looked at Papyrus hold the box with the dust of his friend inside it.   She felt that they should probably wait to do the ceremony, but the skeleton wouldn’t have it.  He couldn’t stand the thought of having Red being trapped in that empty, soulless house.  

 

They were all wearing long dark robes and hoods to hide them from prying eyes and found a secluded place in the forest behind the Underfell brother’s house close to the river.  Papyrus had remembered Red mentioning that he liked to nap in a place like that.  He really didn’t know where Red’s favorite place was but at least he could get him close.  

 

Alphys recited the traditional words of farewell.  It talked about hopes and dreams being fleeting, like monster’s bodies and dust.  About monster’s souls living beyond the Barrier, remembered forever in the hearts of those who loved them.  

 

Papyrus looked at the open box.  He was tired of crying and feeling helpless.  He still didn’t know how his friend died … or why … but he deserved so much better than this.   He reached inside his pocket and brought out a small red glove he had found in Red’s room.  He opened it and put a small handful of the dust inside it.  

 

“Paps?” asked Undyne.  

 

“I …. I think he would want some of him to come back with me …” he said tucking the glove inside his robe and carefully placing it in his hoodie’s front pocket.  

 

“Papyrus…” started Alphys “You’re not … well…. Family”

 

Papyrus glared his friend, but his features softened right away.  “I’m … sorry” he croaked.  

 

“It’s ok… I...” she said.

 

“I’m sorry” he repeated more clearly. “But I am more of a family than that brother of his ever was”

 

“I see” she said.  She knew her friend was grieving.  It was not traditional but then again, they were in an alternate world.  Alphys looked over to Undyne.  She shrugged her shoulders equally unable at a loss on  what to say or do.  She sighed and decided to let it go.  She finished reciting the words of farewell and then nodded to Papyrus.  

 

“Let him be free”

 

Papyrus nodded and tossed the dust into the wind.  It shimmered and swirled around them.  

 

“Goodbye Red” whispered Papyrus.  “I’m sorry I was such a shitty friend”

 

He swore he heard someone snort and laugh.  

 

_“Swap … of course you’re shitty,  you’re too nice.”_

 

“I’m sorry.  I can’t help it, I guess”  thought Papyrus.

 

_“S’okay.   Let’s go fishing again, next time, ok?”_

 

“Sure”  

 

_“Laters”_

 

Papyrus ran the back of his left hand over his eyes. Alphys walked over and put a heavy hand on his shoulder.

 

“You gonna be ok?”  she asked.

 

“Yes” he said and took a deep breath.  “Let’s go get my brother”

 

*********


	15. Broken Bond

 

Blue had fallen unconscious again after his outburst and Fell laid him down on the floor.  This time, however, the small skeleton was having trouble breathing. He would breath in but gag breathing out. To compensate, his body was unconsciously breathing in small, shallow bursts.  Fell soon figured out that having him sit upright helped him take deeper breaths so he maneuvered Blue’s body so he was sitting against him, with his head on his chest.  

 

It was … an embarrassing sight for the older skeleton.  He bet it would be for Blue as well, but it worked on helping his charge get some real rest, which in turn, helped his main goal on getting them both out of there. So this was all for a strategic purpose, he wasn’t encouraging Blue to use him as a pillow.

 

It … It was still comforting.  In a way.  

 

It had been years since he had experienced such physical contact with another monster, much less with Sans.  Not since they were very young, living off scraps and stealing whatever else they needed.  They huddled together to keep warm at night and Sans would always fall asleep first.   He didn’t mind then.

 

He really didn’t mind now.

 

He rested his chin on top of the smaller skeleton’s head.   He frowned when he saw the vial that Undyne had thrown at him.   It was useless without a syringe.   It just laid there, teasing him.  What had she meant about him liking to share?  He had never given Sans ….nor Blue … any DT.  

 

He hated that he craved it.  His body ached and his head throbbed.   Just having a little bit of what was inside that vial would give him his strength back.  Enough to fight everyone as he free them both.  He could do that …

 

He should’ve given Sans some …. Maybe if he had … maybe ….

 

No…. Sans wouldn’t have been able to handle it.  He did make the right decision when he took it away from him.  This was strong stuff.  Sans would’ve never had the discipline to just take a little bit at a time.

 

_Just a little bit…._

 

He started reaching out for the the vial but it was too far away.  He grunted.   He pulled Blue away from him with the intention to lay him down again for a bit while he retrieved the vial and his jacket.  Maybe move them both against the boxes in the far corner.  Give them a better vantage point.  

 

“Paps” protested Blue.  

 

Fell, stopped in mid movement and looked down.   Blue’s eyes were still closed but he was holding on to his undershirt with a dead grip.  

 

“No…” mumbled Blue again.  … “Don’t ... go”

 

Fell sat back down.  This seemed to satisfy Blue and he went quiet again.  Fell tapped his forehead with the tip of his gloved hand.  

 

_Idiot._

 

.

..

…

 

Fell woke up and  tightened his grip on Blue when he heard the door unlock again.   He blinked his eyes a couple of times coaxing his mind to wake fully.  He was surprised that it felt clearer than before, even if he still felt like absolute crap.

  


As the door opened, Fell readjusted  Blue’s body so he could get up easily without dropping him.  However as he did this he realized that to his growing horror, that the younger skeleton’s body felt cold, the hand that had been tightly holding on to his shirt, now lay limply to his side.  He frantically checked his hp, his mouth went dry when he couldn’t detect it.

 

“No, no, no, no”  he panicked.  

 

Suddenly, he was surrounded by three monsters.  Two guard dogs and a female lizard he recognized immediately: Dr. Alphys.

 

She was scrawny and had many scars on her face and right arm.  She wore thick glasses and Fell couldn’t remember ever seeing her in other than a lab coat.  About the only intimidating thing about her was her left arm, which was robotic.  Nobody knew how she lost it … of course there were plenty of colorful rumors speculating how it happened, but none of them confirmed by her.  It was a perfectly working arm and surprisingly effective at dispatching anyone who thought they could take advantage of her.  

 

She put her right hand on Blue’s face without even acknowledging Fell. She opened his left eye and examined it.  Then she tapped a panel on her left arm and looked at some numbers.  She clicked her tongue several times then got up.

 

“Take him” she commanded the guard dogs, pointing at Blue “Leave the other one”  

 

“No! Wait!” protested Fell as one of the guards grabbed Blue’s arm.  “Let me come too!”

 

“You’ll only be in the way” said Alphys already making her way out of the room “If you want me to save him, you’ll stay here and be a good boy for the Captain”

 

Fell looked at Alphys then at the guard dogs.  He reluctantly let go of Blue.  He looked even tinier in the greater dog arms.  His head lifelessly rolled to his side.  Fell scrambled to get up on his feet.  

 

“If… If … something happens to him … I swear …”

 

“Oh spare me!” said Alphys rolling her eyes and closed the door behind her.  He heard the lock click into place.  

 

Fell stood there suddenly feeling very alone.   

 

He looked at his empty hands.  They had been shaking for long, he couldn’t remember a time when they didn’t.  

 

He couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t feel like everything was falling apart.  

 

He used to be part of something.  Part of a duo.  He used to know his role.

 

He used to know... he was needed.  

 

He had so many plans.  He would make it so Sans would never worry about other monsters.  They both would live in a grand house in a much better place than tiny, cold Snowdin. Never have to worry about gold or food.  Sans would be strong and independent, not crying and following him everywhere.  And, Fell would be Captain of the Royal Guard.  Respected by everyone.  

 

If only Sans had believed in him …

 

....if only if he had trusted him.

 

His eyes fell on the DT vial.  He walked over to it and picked it up.  

 

 _Just a little bit will make you feel all better._        

 

He turned it in his fingers.  He … remembered … the euphoric feeling.  He also remembered … the emptiness filled with voices not his own.  

 

He couldn’t use it anyway.  He had no way of injecting it.  Drinking it was unpleasant and all it got you was an extreme hangover feeling.   He had learned that lesson the very hard, hard, hard way.  

 

Still …maybe it would still be better to feel hangover than the way he was feeling right now …

 

He brought the vial to his mouth.  

 

 _Paps…_ He heard in inside his mind.   _No…_

 

He stopped and held the vial away from him.  

 

_Idiot._

 

He dropped it on the floor and it bounced a couple of times but didn’t break.   

 

_You can’t count on anybody…_

 

He walked over and stepped on it, shattering and sending red liquid everyone.  

 

_Not even yourself._

 

He sighed and dropped down to his haunches.  He looked as the liquid seeped in between the cracks on the floor.  He felt a vague feeling of remorse.

 

Now he was truly all alone.

  


******

 

“This is incredible … you were right!”   Alphys practically pranced around Blue, checking her equipment.  Blue laid on top of Undyne’s dining room table, for lack of a proper lab one.  “He IS a blue magic user.  I thought they all died after King Asgore’s corruption.”  

 

“Told ya he was weird looking” said Undyne leaning against the archway that connected the dining room with her kitchen.  By her demeanor, one would not know that she had been injured a mere couple of hours before.   Bandages took care of bruised and/or fractured ribs and an eye patch with some healing ointments were taking care of the scratch on her eye.  The great dog guard with the broken jaw,  had been sent home after getting medical attention from the doctor.

 

“It’s too bad his magic is tainted now” Alphys shone a light into Blue’s left eye socket “And his core is severely damaged.  Of all the places to get infected with DT.  I could’ve gotten some great samples from him”  

 

“So he’s useless?” asked Undyne frustated, putting her hands on her hips.  She had hoped she could at least get something of value out of the little monster after he had costed her one of her guards.

 

“Mmhhh, well I wouldn’t say that ... “  Alphys patted Blue almost affectionately.  “There is a chance I can at least recover him enough for some small samples, nowhere near what I could get from a healthy monster, but that’s all he’ll be good for.   His core can no longer create enough living magic.  He is living off reserves from healing food that Fell most likely gave him.”

 

Alphys examined her subject’s dirty and torn clothes, and healed up facial injuries while she continued her rambling.  “He sure is banged up.  I wish I had known about him sooner. Where the hell did Fell find him!  I mean, if there are others, we don’t even have to bother with this one”  

 

“Mmmhh mmmhh”  said Undyne “Right.  You are practically drooling at the prospect of dissecting him”

 

Alphys blushed under the Captain’s intense gaze.  

 

“Look.  You work on that one and I’ll go ask Fell some questions. No point in wasting a bargaining chip, if he has information on where to get a hold of monsters with rare magic.  This might be exactly what we need for our plan”  Undyne tossed her bangs out of her face and walked out of view.  

 

Alphys squealed quietly to herself, then looked over at Blue.  She smiled.  

 

She walked over to her bag and brought up a leather case filled with surgical equipment.  She also brought out a small case with red vials.  

  
“You are lucky” she said “This is my best batch so far”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sigh. I'm sorry Blue.


	16. LV

The Underfell brother’s house had been empty for a couple of days.  The Underswap trio didn’t find any other traces of other dust in the house to everyone’s relief.   The shed had been empty as well, although there had been signs of someone having been held there at some point.   Most of the day had already been lost with taking care of Red’s dust and keeping out of sight, while still trying to find clues as to where Fell and Sans had gone to.    Their choices came down to try to find something out at Grillby’s or, continue on to Waterfall and try their luck there.  

 

To their dismay, however, they discovered that the bar/nightclub had not only been closed but it looked like it was going to be a while before it opened again.  There were many monster shaped  holes on some of the walls, while the others sported fire and magic damage. 

 

The trio huddled behind a group of snow covered pines close to the rear entrance to Grillby’s, and observed a couple of monsters come in and out of the place with planks of wood and other assorted building materials. All the while being supervised by a very impatient, annoyed, larger and purple version of Grillby.

 

“Well, t-this isn’t any help. I think we should head out to Waterfall after all” sighed Undyne.

 

Papyrus grunted but didn’t show any signs of wanting to move from their spot.  Instead, he kept a close eye on the purple flame monster.  

 

“P-paps?”  

 

No answer.

 

Papyrus was desperate for answers, for any inkling of his brother’s well being.  They couldn’t afford to just blindly stalk around all the different areas of the Underground in hopes that they would stumble upon clues.   It had already taken him too long to get there and, on top of that, every moment they stayed in Underfell longer than necessary, he risked getting his companions captured or hurt by this not-so-friendly-to-strangers world and its denizens.  

 

Also...

 

Also, he remembered Red being relieved that Grillby did not in fact own the restaurant down the street from the Underswap brothers.   The mere mention of his name had put Red on edge.  He had mumbled something about the monster being “too grabby” and zipped up his jacket.  

 

Papyrus had just assumed he meant that Grillby was just overly friendly in the let’s-hug-it-out realm.  Because, while yes, Fell and Red were kinda edgy and not prone to open displays of affection,  there was no way… no way….

 

That had been before their one failed visit to Underfell.  

 

That had been before it had all gone wrong and ….

 

God.  Had he really been THAT oblivious.  Had he really ignored all the signs?

 

_Willfully?_

 

He looked at Grillby again.  He imagined him getting “grabby” with Red.  He knew better than to leap to conclusions but his mind did anyway.  It jumped across any chasm of logic and took that elevator all the way to the top of worse case scenario tower. His hands clenched into fists.

 

“Paps” whispered Alphys putting a hand on his forehead and forcing his head back, so he was looking up at her “You need to stop doing this”

 

“What…”

 

“You need to stop zoning out!  We need you here. NOW”  whispered Alphys.

 

“Y...yes, yes, you’re right” agreed Papyrus.  “I’m sor…”

 

“FUCK!!”

 

Everybody’s faces snapped towards Grillby.  He had been reading something on his phone for the last couple of minutes.

 

“FUCK ME! FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!” he continue shouting as he tossed his cell into a nearby snowbank.

 

“What crawled up your ass Grillby?” asked one of the monsters working on the building.  

 

The fire elemental paced around “Captain Undyne got back to me regarding my complaint about Papyrus” he growled.  

 

Alphys and Undyne exchanged glances.  Then looked over to their own Papyrus who was intensely listening to the not even remotely private conversation.  

 

“Oh and she told you to shove it?” joked the monster.  

 

The fire elemental walked right up to the monster, who looked like he suddenly realized just how much smaller and easily combustible he was.  “NO.  She said I can have his house as compensation”  

 

“O-oh ooooohhh, well that’s good, isn’t?”

 

Grillby spread his arms in exasperation and turned away from the monster.  “What do I need another building for? I asked for his brother”

 

“The little guy?  Sans, was it?  Why??”

 

“Because then he would’ve been mine to do as I please” said Grillby looking over his shoulder at the monster “And Papyrus would have not been allowed to do anything about it”

 

Something twisted and snapped inside of Swap Papyrus.

 

“Yeah? … yeah, well … it’s not like you held back before”  said the monster taking a couple of steps back hoping to be out of the blast area.  

 

Paps right eye became aglow with navy blue magic. 

 

“It’s the principle! Papyrus is always “Royal Guard this” “Royal Guard that” "I'm so great"  It would’ve been so satisfying to parade his little minion around as my own personal -Royal Guard - sanctioned property”  Grillby's flames flared up in frustration.

 

Swap Papyrus raised his right hand.  They deserved pain.

 

“Woah Paps!” whispered Alphys urgently pushing Undyne aside and grabbing Papyrus command hand.  She hissed in pain as his magic crackled and snapped against her skin but kept her hold firm.  Papyrus blinked his eyes and looked at Alphys instantly regretful.  

 

“A-Alphys!! Are you ok?”  asked Undyne giving Papyrus a reproachful look.  

 

“I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry” said Papyrus.  

 

Behind them the fire elemental rantings had continued on.  

 

“Hey, hey, well at least just imagine the look on their faces when they come back and see that you owe their house now” tried to appease the smaller monster.  

 

“They’re NOT COMING BACK” roared the fire elemental.  

 

All apologies and reproaches were momentarily forgotten as the trio’s attention returned to the fire elemental.  

 

“Papyrus is under arrest and being “dealt with”” Grillby made sarcastic air quotes with his hands “and... his brother is dead”

 

“Wait, what?  Really? Dead-dead?”

 

Grillby stopped his pacing suddenly and looked at the monster as if he had said the dumbest thing ever.  Which he probably had but that wasn’t his problem with the monster, or the situation.  “Yeah…  dead”

 

“Did Captain Undyne…”  The monster did a an across the neck motion with his paw.

 

“I don’t fucking know…”  Grillby rubbed his chin “all I know is that the Captain said that he was dusted…”

 

“Wow, the Captain IS ruthless”  said the smaller monster without bothering to hide the admiration in his voice. “I mean, I knew that … I’m glad I’m not under her command… I mean, we are but … you know what I mean …. Grillby?”

 

The smaller monster looked up at the fire elemental.  He looked in the direction of the brothers home and walked off.  The monster guessed that he was already making plans on what to do with it.  

 

That must be it. It’s not like he loved that scrawny skeleton.

 

*****

 

Love, as an emotion, is a funny thing.  It is often defined as being attached to someone or something.  As a promise of devotion and loyalty.

 

A fleeting promise that it's almost never meant or kept.

 

To the romantic, love it's beyond that. Love is being willing to understand when you can’t.  It's caring about someone without obligation.  Love is hearing someone out, when your head is full of noise.  Love is letting someone go, when you desperately want to hold on.   Love is knowing when you have messed up, even if that realization comes too late.  

 

Love is …

 

“Your level of violence...” mumbled Alphys as she adjusted her sensors for the umpteen time. “The sum of all the hurt you have imposed upon others” she continued.  The numbers continued not adding up.  She tapped on the small display in her arm.  As far as she could tell, everything was working correctly.  

 

“You make no sense” she said to her unconscious subject.  When she got no reaction from him -not that she expected any but it would’ve been polite of him to at least groan- she returned to her preparations with an exasperated sigh.  All of this would be much better done back at her lab, but moving the young skeleton at this stage, would most likely result in his dusting before they even came close to her home.

 

All monsters had at least LV 1. Most adults varied between 5 or 10.   Everybody hurt everyone else, it was just a fact of life.  This monster before her, however, was registering at 0.  Impossible.  Even if he had never hurt anyone before today, she knew he had just attacked Undyne and another monster a little over 2 hours ago.  That should be registering that at the very least.  

 

There should be _some_ level of violence.  

 

Undyne told her that his attack had been vicious and powerful.  The Captain was all kinds of thing but she could never be described  as shy about declaring someone’s power, nor did she exaggerate.  Well maybe about herself, but never about another monster’s potential.  

 

However, Alphys couldn’t find any sign of this power now.  If she went by readings alone, this monster would have been declared Fallen, but she knew he wasn’t.  He still responded to outside stimuli.  His soul, tainted as it had been with poison, had responded well to her medicine and still managed to shine through weakly.  There was no coming back from a failing magic core, however.  At best, she predicted, he would survive a few hours before complete failure, even with the aid of DT. If he woke up at all.  She would have to work fast to get as many samples as she could.

 

He was a perfect candidate for her experiments on fallen monsters, except that she couldn’t even get the most basic of readings off of him, Shame, such a waste.

 

She was very confident in her latest batch but still, DT was a very uncompromising and unpredictable substance. At least he had the other skeleton as well.  He had proven to be way more resilient to the effects to DT than anybody else so far.  Undyne said that he had been a bit “unstable” according to her spies and her own observations, but physically he seemed to be doing comparatively well.  He would be a good baseline for her stronger doses.

 

She sighed.

 

Well, no time like the present.  

 

She filled a syringe with DT and tapped it to get rid of any air bubbles.  She took one long look at her subject.

 

“Be a dear and surprise me” she said before plunging the needle into his arm.

 

*******

 

Fell had not slept again since they had taken Blue away even though his body was begging for it.  It had been 2, maybe 3 hours, it was hard to tell in that place.  He preferred to stay alert and was used to going days without sleep.  He could never understand why Sans couldn’t do the same.   He would fall asleep at the drop of a hat, especially during the last few months before … well, before … that.

 

He didn’t want to remember, yet he knew he would never forget.  

 

How his face had looked.  

 

The face of someone who had completely and utterly given up.   

 

If he could take it back.  If he could take so many things back.  

 

And then there was Blue.  He thought that with him …

 

What had he thought?

 

He had convinced himself that ...if just only ....

 

If just only … what?

 

He could barely remember the days after Sans’ death.  

 

He remembered coming home carrying his brother’s body.  

 

_He was fine.  He was fine. Just a bump on the head.  He would just sleep it off._

 

He remembered going into his room.

 

He remembered … Sans saying something … someone saying something…

 

He fell unto his knees, barely being able to to hold on to his brother’s body.  

 

His body was cold.  He wasn’t breathing.  His hp … was …

 

_“No, no, no, no, no”_

 

He held on tighter and he broke him.  

 

…..He broke him.  …..

 

His body just felt apart  

 

Disintegrated.  

 

He … didn’t even say goodbye….

 

Everything was a blank after that.  The next tangible memory he had was of him standing before the Swap brother’s home.  

 

What had he done?  

 

He broke Blue too.  

 

He didn’t mean to.  He had just wanted another chance …

 

**_What was wrong with him?_ **

 

This pain inside of him.  He didn’t want it.  

 

_You deserve it_

 

He would never be able to apologize enough.  To explain enough.

 

He didn’t want this pain.

 

_A little bit of DT.  You just need a little bit to clear your head.  Then you can apologize.  Explain.  Everything will be fine.  Just need a little bit of … help._

 

The door unlocked and Undyne stepped in.  She smirked at Papyrus’ huddled over form then she noticed the stain on the floor where the vial had been broken.  She raised a questioning eyebrow and crouched down in front of her prisoner.  

 

“Got the shakes, huh?” she asked sarcastically.  “You looking for a fix?”

 

Papyrus glared at her but nodded just a little bit.

 

Undyne laughed.  “Well, you are going to have to earn your next one” she said.  “It’s bad enough that I have to take of your small problem”  She pointed a finger upstairs.   “Dr Alphys says that she can heal him.  No problem”

 

Papyrus couldn’t hide the sigh of relief that escaped between his teeth.  He even allowed himself a small smile.  

 

“He’s … he’s going to be ok?”  

 

“Yup, he is” Undyne stood up “Courtesy of us, but only if, our price is met”  

 

“I … I … don’t know how I can ….”

 

“Yeah, but I do.  You are going to pay us with a bit of information”  She smiled toothily “And you’re going to tell me the truth, because if you don’t, I’ll make sure you never see that little guy again”  

 

“W ...What kind of information?” asked Papyrus carefully.  

 

“Where did this “cousin” come from?” asked Undyne. “I can tell he’s not local.  He has no claws and his teeth haven’t even been sharpened.  On top of that, Alphys tells me he is a blue magic user.  You and I both know that any magic other than red and green are rare in the Underground”

 

“I…”

 

“Where is he from Papyrus?” growled Undyne “This is the last time I’ll ask nicely.  Alphys will only help him if I get what I want. And really, do you really think you have the luxury to say “no”?  How many more “family” member deaths are you going to be responsible for?”

 

“I did NOT kill my brother”

 

“Ho, ho, ho, well, you certainly are calling it close on the one upstairs.   You can deny it all you want, but you WILL be responsible for HIS dusting if you don’t tell me the information I’m asking for” Undyne manifested a red lance.  

 

Papyrus stood up and manifested a floating circle of bones behind him.  

 

He could at least do this much for Blue.

 

“I will not tell you”  

 

Undyne grinned and gripped her lance ready to battle.  

 

“AH Papyrus, I never knew you were such a cold blood killer”

  
******


	17. AT

Their companion had sat down hugging their knees and hiding their face behind them.  They remained quiet.  Too quiet.  This usually meant that it was time.  

 

Time to take them into their arms and let them become part of them.  

 

But no matter what they did.  No matter how much they embraced. The small one didn’t join them.

 

It was intriguing.  Everyone else had been desperate for it to end, but this creature hung on.  This small skeleton monster was still waiting for someone.  They sat in the immense darkness of their mind and waited, and waited.

 

… and waited.  

 

Their connection with the older skeleton was fading.  He had been fun.  Open for suggestions and playtime, but determined and ultimately independent.   Able to say “no” to them.  Their body had been strong as well, adapting to the DT quickly if not very efficiently.   

 

Maybe in time, they would be able to absorb them as well, but for now, they had plenty of others at several stages of giving up.  Yet, they craved.  They craved for the small one who waited for someone to come for them.

 

Their magic had been delicious.  The small taste of its full potential as they attacked the fish and dog monsters: Amazing.  They had almost felt completely alive.  Again.  

 

Maybe he was all they really needed.

 

They sat cross legged in front of Blue.  They patted the top of their head but got no response.  They tilted their head and put their hand on top of the skeleton’s head again.  They searched for a memory.  

 

Their happy/sad mask stretched and contracted.  It changed shape to match the memory.  Their body changed as well.  They stifled a giggle as they did so, they weren’t used to be being so tall.

  


A bony hand stroked Blue’s head in a manner that was familiar to him.  He snapped his head up as he recognized the gesture.  

 

“Paps?” he asked carefully.  His voice was so very tired.  His whole body was too.  His eyelights were barely visible.  

 

His brother smiled at him and offered a helping hand up.  Blue looked at it as if he didn’t recognize it.  Something was off about it.  It looked exactly like his brother’s hand, yet … the edges looked wrong … fuzzy... maybe his eyes just weren’t working right anymore.

 

He reached out for the hand but stopped.  Instead, he got his legs under him and got up under his own power.  

 

A hint of a grimace traveled across his brother’s features for a second, but he never stopped smiling.  

 

“Paps? … Is it …. really you?”  asked Blue again rubbing his eyes to clear them without much success.  

 

His brother nodded and offered his hand again.  

 

Blue looked at the hand.  He felt like his soul was being crushed.  He wanted to reach out.  He wanted to hold it.  To let all of this end.  But,

 

He didn’t trust it.  

 

“I’m sorry.  I .. c-can’t” Big blue tears rolled down his cheeks.  He cradled his hands against his chest.  “I can’t”

 

His brother retrieved his hand and placed it inside the front pocket of his hoodie.  He frowned upon him. A deep look of resentment and disappointment on his face.  He turned around and started to walk away.  

 

Panic overwhelmed Blue he ran after him.

 

“PAPS!”

 

He grabbed at the back of his hoodie making him stop.  

 

“No … don’t go…”  he begged.

 

His brother turned his head and looked at him over his shoulder.

 

Blue’s hand clenched around the fabric of his brother’s clothes. He used the back of his free hand to clear overflowing tears.   He berated himself for being such a baby bones.  

 

His brother lifted his hand and slowly placed the tip of each of his long fingers one after the other, on the top of his forehead.  

 

Each touch send a spark of want for comfort, of longing, of unbridled need to be held and told that everything was going to be alright down the young skeleton’s spine.  He embraced his brother’s side dissolving into sobs.  

 

His brother kneeled down and coaxed him into his chest.  He embraced him fully.  

 

No more pain.

 

No more fear.  

 

No more.

 

**********

 

Fell and Undyne circled each other sizing the other up.   Fell refused to feel the compound effect of tiredness from everything that happened in the last few days and, the draining effects of DT withdrawal.  A nagging little voice in the back of his head reprimanded him for not saving that last vial.  Maybe, somehow, he could’ve found a way to use it to his advantage.  

 

He shook his head.  No, he was winning this fight as himself.  

 

He knew that despite Undyne’s bravado, she was still hurt.  He had to take advantage of that.  Also, they were in an enclosed space.  Undyne was a better distance fighter with her spears than close range.  Not that she couldn’t kick his butt at close range, but he had a slightly better chance.  He had studied her style of fighting both out of admiration and self preservation.  He knew that eventually he would need to face her in combat for the position of Captain.

 

He had never imagined it would happen this way.  

“You’re being stupid Papyrus” warned Undyne  “Do you really think you can defeat me? Not on your best day.  Much less now”  

 

Fell glared at her.  He did not dislike her.  She had represented everything he had ever wanted.  

 

But now, she reminded him of everything he had lost and was losing.  

 

“Why …” he whispered despite himself.  He did not want to talk.  He did not want to waste time.  

 

“Why?” Undyne perked up.  “Here’s one better:  Why should I tell you?”

 

Fell gritted his teeth.  She was right.  This was no time for questions.  This was the time for action.   

 

He released a row of red bones behind her to force her closer.  Undyne jumped forward to avoid them but had read his intent and thrusted her spear forward towards his torso.  He barely had time to dodge it by twisting his body to his right.  He summoned a large femur bone just in time to parry another thrust from Undyne’s spear.  As long as he kept her close, she couldn’t summon flying spears without risking skewering herself.    

 

Whether Undyne had guessed his intent or not, she did not seem to care.  She wasted no energy in bluffs.  All her attacks were with the intention to do harm.   It was her lack of full mobility that was keeping Fell being able to dodge her attacks, if by a hair.  Thrust and parry, parry and dodge.  Their dangerous dance grew more and more pronounced.  

 

His dodging streak didn’t last too long, however.  With an unexpected and fierce kick to his hip bone, she managed to get him off his feet and send him sprawling against the large crates in the room.

 

She took the opportunity to catch her breath.  Her fractured ribs were in agony.  The pain fueled her bloodlust.  She’d rather not kill the skeleton right off if she could help it, but she would make damned sure he regretted with every broken bone in his body that he had ever challenged her.

 

Fell scrambled back onto his feet.  He was breathing hard as well.  His vision swam.  

 

Undyne raised her non wielding arm and summoned a flying spear.  Oh no.   

He tried to move out of the way but found himself pinned to the boxes by a spear through his ribcage.  The sickening sound of a ribs breaking ringing through his entire body.  The attack had been calculated.  More intended to immobilize him.  The hurt part was just a bonus.  

 

Undyne brought the point of her other spear against Fell’s neck.  She grinned.

 

“You almost made me break a sweat” She looked him over.  “Maybe I’ll ask Alphys to give you another dose, I bet you will be more fun that way”

 

“Fuc….”

 

A scream rang through Undyne’s stronghold.  

 

“Blue” whispered Fell.

 

********

.

..

…

They thought they were used to the feeling by now.  The rush.  The sudden awareness of light and shadow.  Of soft and solid.  Of breath and taste.  An intoxicating feeling full of despair, because they knew it wouldn’t last long.  They knew the darkness and numbness would come back.  

 

This time it was different.  The rush was there.  It swirled around them filling them up.  But this time, it didn’t feel fleeting.  It was powerful, permanent.  It flooded and destroyed.  It destroyed and created.  It was as if they had never been awake before.   

 

Screaming. They were screaming.  It rang and echoed throughout them.  

 

They opened their eyes but they were blinded by tears and magic.

 

A  world tinted in purple.

 

They gasped and it hurt.  

 

_So good to be alive._

 

Somewhere, near their feet somebody laughed and said something.  Their voice was familiar.  They hated this voice.  

 

Regardless, there was the whole matter of regaining control of their shaking body.

 

Their body.  

 

_Yes, yes, amazing._

 

They attempted to lift their hands but they were being held down at the wrists by something.  

 

 _Annoying_.  

 

Their legs reported the same problem.  Fine.  They decided to concentrate on getting their magic back to full use instead.

 

“Calm down dear” they heard someone say.  “You are not dissolving.  That’s a good sign!  Calm down or you’re going to hurt yourself even more”  

 

_That voice …_

 

They growled at the voice.  That voice always hurt them.  

 

“GEEZZ! CALM DOWN!” the voice said.

 

They called forth their magic.  Damn it all, this body was getting up no matter what.  They needed to confront the owner of that horrible voice.    

 

Suddenly, a rag soaked in something pungent was put on top of their nose and mouth.  The smell made them dizzy.  They struggled and trashed against it but soon lost the battle against unconsciousness.     

 

Alphys wiped some sweat off her forehead.  Well, he had certainly surprised her.  There had been a small possibility of the skeleton waking up in response to the DT but, this had been way more aggressive than she ever expected.  If he hadn’t been tied down to the table, she was sure he would’ve leapt at her.

 

She looked around a little self consciously and saw that the dog guards right outside the dining area were sneaking looks in, but weren’t saying anything.  

 

“As expected” she said out loud in her most confident tone of voice.  “Now that  that’s done, it's time to start the extraction”  

 

She side glanced at the door guards again.  Their ears were pointed at her but didn’t show any signs of coming in or having any comment on the skeleton’s outburst.  Ok, then.

 

She double checked her subject’s life signs.  His HP was back to normal. DT was truly amazing stuff.  If she could only keep monsters taking it from losing their minds, bodies or life in general.  Oh well, you had to crack a few eggs to make a cake after all.  Not that she ever had cake.

 

She carefully placed a row of 3 long syringes next to skeleton’s head.   Their needles were specially made for extracting magic, thin and practically invisible.  Very rare and precious.  The scientist before her had developed them for unknown purposes, and she had yet to figure out how to reproduce them.  

 

She would, of course.  She was sure of it.  

 

However, before any magic extraction could happen, she would need to remove the source of the poison from the skeleton’s eye, otherwise she wouldn’t get a clear example of blue magic.  Now that his HP was stabilized, she could do this with a much more reduced risk of dusting him.   

 

She reached for a pair of surgical needle nose pliers.  Using her mechanical arm, she forced his left eye open.

 

She vaguely hoped that there wouldn’t be any more surprises.

 

******

 

“BLUE!” yelled Fell and kicked a distracted Undyne in the stomach.  He took hold of the spear pinning him and pulled out from in between his ribs.   He gasped in pain but managed to remain standing.   

 

No time.  No time.  

 

Undyne recuperated fast and launched at him screaming in anger.  In a blind panic, Fell called forth two rows of bones forcing her to bounce off to her left.   He continued his barrage in an attempt to keep her distracted.  He needed to get upstairs.  That was his only priority.  

 

Another spear nicked him in the arm.  He turned around and saw all his bone attacks were disintegrating.  He didn’t have much magic left to spare.  Suddenly, from in between the floorboards over their heads a flood of blue light invaded the room.  Both Fell and Undyne suddenly felt their souls being grabbed and slammed down into the basement’s floor.  

 

More screaming.  Only this time it wasn’t Blue doing the screaming.  Something slammed against a wall.  Then more sounds of things being thrown around.  

 

Their souls were released as suddenly as they had been grabbed.  Recuperating just a couple of seconds faster than Undyne, Fell summoned another group of bones behind her and slammed them into the back of her head.  She slumped unconscious.  

 

Fell just stood there.  His whole body was shaking with the rush of adrenaline. His breath couldn’t get air back into his body fast enough.  He only allowed himself enough time to stop his head from spinning then he made a mad dash upstairs.  

 

He had never seen the inside of Undyne’s stronghold before, but he was sure that it wasn’t supposed to look as destroyed as it did.  There were cracks on the walls and a heavy feeling to the atmosphere. Almost like the ever present humidity in Waterfall but several times stronger.   All around him, sparks of dissipating blue magic floated about in the air.  

 

He looked in the main living area calling Blue’s name.  When he found that empty, he ran into the living room where he saw two large dog guards lying against wall, very obviously having been thrown against it.  He rushed into the dining area and almost tripped on Alphy’s body lying across the entrance.  From the looks of the destruction, she had been slammed against several pieces of furniture and equipment.  

 

“Oh, hey Fell”

 

Fell looked up from Alphy’s body to behold Blue jumping off the dining room table.  He was covering his left eye with his left hand.   When he landed, he swayed a little bit and had to grab a hold of the table.

 

“Woah ... he he he“

The tall skeleton could see blue magic still flaring up in between his fingers.

 

“Blue! Are you ok?”  asked Fell in a rasp.  

 

“Oh yes, yes.  Just not used to being on my feet.  Feels like I been sleeping forever”  He took his hand off his left eye and blinked a couple of times.   He looked up at Fell, his blue eye lights fully restored.

 

“I’m starving” he said.  “Do you think they have any food, dear brother?”

 

He smiled.   

 

*******


	18. DF

He should be happy.  

 

Blue was alive. Not only that.  He was restored.  

 

Fell wanted to reach out and declare victory.  He would have his second chance. Maybe they could even convince Swap to join them.  Yeah, Fell had roughed him up, but he was sure that Blue could convince him to let it go.  

 

Yeah, yeah, this was a good thing.  Right?

 

… right?

 

Sudden, sharp pain in his ribs brought him to his knees.  He brought his arm around to cradle them and try to estimate how much damage had been done by Undyne’s spear.  

 

Blue didn’t move from his spot.  He just looked at him through sleepy, bored eyes.  

 

This was wrong.  Realistically speaking, he really had not known Blue for that long.  A couple of months at best and during that timeframe, he had only visited 3 times.  Those visits had been ...long.  But it had been enough, enough to know that the Blue he knew wouldn’t just stand there.

 

******

 

_“Get back in here!”_

 

_Fell grabbed Blue by the back of his scarf pulling him back into the house.  Outside, a fight had broken out between two wolf monsters.   Blue had heard the commotion while he had been in the middle of a tirade about how reading bedtime stories to one’s brother was an important part of their relationship.  Fell had tuned him out until he heard him go open the door._

 

_“But Fell!” complained Blue readjusting this scarf back into place.   “Aren’t you a Royal Guard?  You should put a stop to it before they hurt each other!”_

 

_“I’m a Sentry” corrected Fell, annoyed “and no, whatever they are fighting about, that’s their business”_

 

_Blue huffed and went to unlock the front door.  Fell grabbed him by the scarf again only enough to spin him around and grabbed him by the shoulders._

 

_“Listen to me.  I don’t know how it is in your fancy little world but here it's “Killed or be killed”.  He growled locking eyes with him “That fight isn’t yours.  If they end up dusting themselves.  That’s their problem”_

 

_As if in response to the tall skeleton’s statement.  A loud yelp of pain was heard.  Blue’s eye lights flicked in direction of the sound then back to Fell.  If hadn’t known any better, Fell could’ve sworn that Blue’s already big blue eyelights were now twice as large._

 

_“That’s horrible” he stated._

_“That’s the rule of the land” said Red from stairs.  They hadn’t noticed him coming out of his room and come downstairs.   “Listen to the Boss.  Don’t go out there”_

 

_Blue frowned at the word “Boss” momentarily forgetting the initial conflict.  However, by then he had learned to let it go for the time being.  Both Fell and Red were just too stubborn to listen to reason sometimes!_

 

_The sounds of struggle continued outside.  A crack.  Possibly bone.  Snapping of fangs and claws.  Blue looked back up at Fell and saw that he was also concentrating on the sound.  His eyes narrowed.  His expression unreadable._

 

_“Sans!” he barked and nodded towards the big living room window that overlooked the street where the fight was going on._

 

_His brother ran up to the window and looked out from in between the wood planks that covered most of it._

 

_“They’re not coming this way” he reported in bored tone.  “Nobody else is joining in.  It’s probably a clan conflict”_

 

_Curiosity winning him over, Blue ran over to stand next to Red and peeked out._

 

_“They’re bleeding! And that guy’s leg is broken!”_

 

_“That’s Larry” said Red.  He crossed his arms over the window ledge and rested his head on them.   “He’s been in worse scrapes.  I would bet he -likes- having broken bones”_

 

_Blue got closer to Red and lowered his head so he was practically shoulder to shoulder with his alternate._

 

_“Do… do you really not care?” he asked in a whisper._

 

_Red blushed at the sudden invasion of his personal space.  “Why should I?” he whispered back, not really sure why they were whispering to begin with._

 

_“Monsters are getting hurt!”_

 

_“So?  As long it's not me…”  Red eyed his brother who was coming closer._

 

_“But … “_

 

_“NOBODY CARES! ALRIGHT?!” snapped Red._

 

_“BUT EVERYONE SHOULD CARE!” snapped Blue back.  “IF YOU JUST GOT OVER YOURSELVES AND STARTED CARING ABOUT EACH OTHER, STUFF LIKE THAT” he pointed to the fight outside “WOULDN’T HAPPEN!!”_

 

_Both Fell and Red stared at him._

 

_“You guys … wouldn’t …” started Blue, feeling a self conscious after his outburst.  “Be… like … this…”_

_Fell opened his mouth but it was Red who exploded._

 

_“YOU PRETENTIOUS LITTLE SNOT!” he yelled  “DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT THINGS ARE THE WAY THEY ARE BECAUSE WE’RE BEING SELFISH!!! REALLY??!!  YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!!!”_

 

_“Sans!” called out Fell._

 

_To his surprise, Red ignored him.  He leaned forward forcing Blue to stumble back a couple of steps._

 

_“YOU HAVE. NO. FUCKING. IDEA!” he yelled into Blue’s face “YOU IDEALISTIC MORON!!”_

 

_“SANS!” yelled Fell “STAND DOWN!!”_

 

_Red whirled around to face his brother.  “Boss! Are you just going to let him be all high and mighty like that?!! He thinks we don’t know what we’re doing!!”_

 

_“There is no need to overreact.  I know he’s an idiot”  explained Fell in an even tone “That’s why I am teaching him our ways”_

 

_“OVERREACT??”_

 

_-Slap- Fell had slapped Red in one quick motion.  If Blue had blinked, he would’ve missed it._

 

_“I TOLD YOU TO STAND DOWN”  yelled Fell back.  “What the FUCK, is wrong with you today?”_

 

_Red balled up his hands into fists and jammed them into his jacket._

 

_“Whatever” he mumbled avoiding Fell’s gaze._

 

_“Red … Fell”  started Blue “I’m … sorry.  I didn’t mean to…”_

 

_“Shut up” said Fell. He looked at his sullen brother then at Blue.  “After the coast is clear … Go home.  Don’t come back”_

 

_Blue took a sharp intake of air.  “But…”_

 

_Fell stopped him with a raised hand.  “Go home.  Don’t come back”_

 

_“But Fell!” insisted Blue._

 

_Fell ignored him.  “Sans!”_

 

_Red barely raised his eye lights “Yes, boss”_

 

_“Make sure he goes back to his world” Fell commanded.  He then marched towards their front door, unlocked it and flung it open._

 

_“FELL!” yelled Blue “I’m sorry, ok?  I didn’t mean to insult you guys.  I just want to be friends!”_

 

_Fell sighed exasperated.  “IF I ever want to be friends with the likes of you, I’ll come get you myself”_

 

_He walked out and slammed the door behind him.  Outside, they heard him yelling at the fighting pair to leave.  The sounds of a bone attack followed._

 

_“Wow” commented Red  “You really do think you’re better than us”_

 

_“No, Red! I was … just … “_

 

_“Save it” said Red going back to his room.  “Nobody cares”_

 

_._

_.._

_…_

 

_About half an hour later, Red came down the stairs to find a depressed Blue sitting on their couch.  His brother hadn’t come back after clearing the fight outside their home.  He had probably gone on to Grillby’s to cool off.  He motioned Blue to follow him and they both headed out back to the portal.  They both remained quiet during their walk._

 

_When they reached the portal, Blue stood in front of it and did not go in._

 

_“I’m not better than you…” he said quietly._

 

_He heard Red make a scoffing sound behind him._

 

_“I’M NOT!” repeated Blue turning around.  Small blue tears peppered the corners of his eyes.  “THAT’S JUST IT! I … WE .. ARE NOT BETTER THAN YOU! Even if we … somehow were … you don’t deserve to have to call your brother “Boss””_

 

_Red’s smile disappeared and his eyes went dark.   His soul shuddered._

 

_“Blue, you… you just don’t get it … you will NEVER get it.”  he said._

 

_“I guess, I don’t”  Blue looked around the room defeated._

 

_“I bet your brother has never told you he’s disappointed in you…”_

 

_“Red, he’s not….”_

 

_“HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?”_

 

_“I don’t, but how can he possibly be?”_

 

_“What…?”_

 

_“How can Fell possibly be disappointed in you?” repeated Blue. He said it as if he was saying “How can you possibly not see that my scarf is blue?”_

 

_Red facepalmed  “Nnhhhggghhh … you cannot possibly be another me!! I can’t imagine what kind of immense paradox must happen for YOU to happen!!  How can he possibly be??  How can he possibly be NOT??  I’m a joke!  I’m just a runt that constantly has to be watched over.  My magic doesn’t even work right”_

 

_His voice hitched.  Goddammit. Not here. Not in front of him.  He covered his eyes with his hands._

 

_“No, Red, no, you’re not …”_

 

_“You heard him Blue.  Go home.  Don’t come back”  whispered Red through his hands.  “Just go”_

 

_Blue hanged his head.  “Ok” … … … … “Will you?”_

 

_“Will I, what?”  asked Red sniffing._

 

_“Will YOU come back?” .... “To Underswap”_

 

_Red’s eyelights came back.  He shrugged._

 

_“Please do.  I promise to not come back here unless Fell is ok with it. ... Please”  begged Blue._

 

_“....  Fine!”_

 

_Blue sighed relieved, at least they would still be able to see Red.  He wiped stray tears from his cheeks._

 

_“You’re better off, you know”  said Red “Underfell is no place for monsters like you and the Boss knows it”_

 

_Blue couldn’t help feeling just a bit defensive at the statement but had to concede.  “Maybe … but - no offense - I don’t see why it has to be that way”_

 

_“Get it through your head … It’s killed or be ki…”_

 

_“I know that.  I mean, why it has to be that way between you and your brother”_

 

_Red sighed.  “You’re worse than that dog that lives under our sink… always chewing on the same bone”_

 

_“You have a dog? … nevermind that … Red, I’ll let it go, ok?  But please remember, it doesn’t have to be that way.  Please, just think about it … “_

 

_“Fine”_

 

_“Ok …”  Blue spread his arms offering a hug, but when Red completely ignored the gesture, he settled for giving him an awkward wave as he stepped through the portal.  He smiled when he saw Red return the wave._

 

_That was the last time Blue visited Underfell by himself._

 

_******_

 

Blue sighed.  He walked over to about the only piece of furniture that hadn’t been damaged in some way or another and collected what was on there.  He then walked over to Fell and offered him his bounty.  

 

4 vials of DT, one of them was empty, and a used syringe.  

 

“She said it was her best so far” said Blue with stars in his eyes.  

 

Fell eyed Blue as a shiver went down his spine.  Slowly, he took the vials and syringe from Blue.  

 

“Remember, just a little bit” warned Blue.  He looked around.  “Now, where can I find some food?”  

 

The small skeleton ran out of the dining room into the kitchen.   Fell heard him opening cabinets and rummaging through the fridge.

 

He stared at the contents of his hand.  The craving making him sweat.  

 

He needed to keep his senses.  Blue was acting strange.  He looked at the empty vial.  Had they given him DT?  

 

He heard a groan behind him.  The female scientist was stirring.  He gave a quick look towards the kitchen then carefully, turned around making sure to not hurt his ribs even further.  

 

“Hey, hey” he whispered to her “Do you hear me?”  

 

She opened her eyes slightly.  He leaned over as much as his rib cage would allow without making him scream.

 

“What did you do?” he asked.  

 

She looked at him confused.  

 

“Did you give him this?” he asked again showing her the vials in his hands.  “Did you give the monster that was with me, this?”

 

She looked at the vials trying to focus her eyes.  

 

 _“TELL ME”_ he hissed through clenched teeth.  

 

Her eyes went wide, obviously scared.  She nodded slightly.

 

“Why?”

 

“Be… because… his … core”  she gasped as some of the shock started to wear off and pain from her injuries became more evident to her “is… dying.  He needed the .. I … help”

 

“His core ... “ repeated Fell.  He remembered how Blue’s magic core had been damaged … by him.  He didn’t think that the damage would be … irreversible.  No. He put his hand on her neck.  “Don’t lie.  He’s fine.   I just saw him walking around, even his magic is back to its normal color.”  

Alphys squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.  “I … just …”

 

“Who are you talking to Fell?”  asked Blue walking back into the room eating some bread.  “Oh”    

 

Blue raised his hand and Alphys flew into the air.  He held her there.  Surprised, Fell back unto his rear.  He looked over at the small skeleton, who had a fierce look on his face.   The likes he never even imagined was possible on his face.  His left eye was twice as big as his right one and it was a pulsating blue.  

 

“Blue?” he asked  “What are you doing?”  

 

“She … she’s the one who kept taking us.  She’s the one who made us hurt”  Blue growled.    

 

“I … helped you!” said Alphys “You… you would be dust by now if I…”

 

“SHUT UP!” yelled Blue, banging her against the wall  “We WANTED to die!”

 

Fell felt his soul resonate at the statement.  It ached in regret.  He started to get up unsteadily.  “Blue, please, calm down.  Let her go and let’s .. let’s just get out of here...”

 

Blue stomped his foot.  “No! She’s bad!!”  

 

“Blue…”

 

Alphys whimpered frightened.

 

“NO! I HATE HER!”  Blue raised his hand over his head ready to slam Alphys into the floor.  

 

“BLUE, STAND DOWN!” yelled Fell desperately.  

 

Blue stopped in mid motion.  He looked at Fell both confused and hurt. At the very edge of a tantrum.   Fell suddenly felt as if he was talking to a child.  

 

“Why are you defending her?” he asked resentfully.  

 

“I’m not” Fell said thinking quickly.  “I just want her to help me fix my ribs” He lifted his undershirt and showed him two broken ribs.  

 

Blue looked at his injuries.  He was … annoyed.  

 

“Fine …” he said releasing his magic and allowing the female lizard to drop to the floor.  He swayed a little bit and covered his eye again for a few moments before it returned to normal. He ate the rest of his bread in three bites.  “The food here sucks”  

 

Alphys remained on the floor gasping.  Her eyes were wide and unfocused.  

 

“This is the Captain of the Royal Guard’s home” he stated getting closer to Alphys. He grimaced when he felt a rib shift uncomfortably.   “Surely she has better food than bread.  Hey, you”  

He nudged the scientist with his foot, coaxing her to redirect her attention to him.  

 

“Do you know where the Captain keeps the “good food”?”  He looked at her significantly. _You want him to leave, right?._      

 

The scientist looked at him then at the small skeleton.  

 

“Uh… I know she keeps …  candy in her bedroom” she gasped

 

“She does?” asked Blue suddenly in a much better mood “Where is her bedroom?!”

 

“Down the hall… last ...last door on the left”  said Alphys holding her side.  

 

Blue leapt over her and ran down the hall.  

 

“For your sake, I hope you weren’t lying” said Fell crouching next to the prone scientist.  

 

“I...I didn’t”  she said.  

 

Fell raised an eye ridge but shook his head. That wasn’t important right now.  

 

“I’ll keep him from attacking you again, but only if you tell me what you did to him... and how I can fix it”

 

Alphys frowned at him but nodded.  She got up with some difficulty.  Fell had to recognize that she was tougher than she looked.  No apparent broken bones despite having been slammed around.  Heck, the much larger dog guards were still out cold.

 

“Might as well work on your ribs” she said looking down the hall “make it look authentic, in case that little shit comes back too soon”  

 

Fell didn’t appreciate the comment but didn’t say anything.  He did need to get his ribs bandaged up.  He found that he had problems standing up right and his knees were shaking.  The adrenaline, bravado or sheer panic he had been using to keep himself going was running out.  He look down at his hand still holding the DT vials.  He should throw them away.

 

He really should.

 

Alphys grabbed some bandages from off the floor and some healing salve from her travel bag.  She indicated for the skeleton to lift his shirt. She took a quick peek at his injuries with expert eyes.   “You are lucky Undyne was holding back.  You should be fine in a couple of days…”

 

“If she lets you live that long” she added as she applied a layer of the salve on his ribs, then wrapped the first bandage a little too roughly.  

 

Fell grunted.  “I dealt with her”  he said.  

 

Alphys paused a little bit.  “Yeah, right”  

 

Fell grabbed her lab coat’s collar.  “Why did he say he hates you?”  

Alphys shrugged.  “I guess some monsters really don’t like being strapped to a table … I don’t fucking know”  

 

Fell inhaled sharply and let her go.

 

“Listen, me and Blue are leaving, and you two are going to leave us alone” claimed Fell.  

 

“Fine by me.  He won’t last long, anyway” said Alphys wrapping another layer around Fell’s second broken rib.  “ _Such a waste_ ” she mentally added.

 

“What ... do you mean?”

 

“I told you.   His core is dying.  The DT I gave him was only to give him a boost while I removed that red bone fragment in his eye”  She looked up at him “Yours?”

 

Fell sneered at her and Alphys avoided his glare.  “In … in any case, removing the bone fragment took away the source of the poison but the damage is done.  That core of his will only last maybe a couple of more hours by my estimation. If he doesn’t keep using his magic”

 

“..... Is there a way to …”  

 

Alphys side glanced at him then at the vials he held firmly in his hand.  

 

“I can’t guarantee it, but I believe that as long as you give him DT on a regular basis, it will take the place of his core eventually.  I mean, he didn’t dissolve right away, which is a good sign.  Who knows?  He may have you physical endurance for it. Although, you know first hand, what it can do to your mind”  She finished wrapping Fell’s ribs.   

 

Fell looked at the vials and place them inside his pant’s pocket still keeping a hold on Alphy’s coat.  “Is there any more?”

 

“No… you know that DT is hard to come by.  The stuff you got off Gerson must’ve cost you quite a bit of gold”  Alphys smirked at Fell’s reaction to her words.  “Geez, who do you think supplies him with it?”

 

Fell pushed her away. “Fuck you”

 

Alphys stumbled back into the dining room table.  “You wish”  She took a deep breath and  ran a shaky hand across her scales. “Listen … if … if you want more, maybe you and I can work a…”

 

“Fell! She had a huge bag of candy under her bed!”

 

Blue ran back looking pleased with himself.  He offered Fell a piece of monster candy from the no-longer-huge bag,  while he popped another in his mouth.  Alphys slowly backed away from the pair trying really hard not to be noticed.

 

Noticing this Fell stepped in between a still a candy distracted Blue and the scientist.  If he was going to need her help, he might as well play nice for now.  

 

“We should go” he said.  “We can go somewhere where they have even better food”

 

Blue grinned “Ok!” and turned to leave.  

 

Fell looked at Alphys over his shoulder.  She mouthed the words “My lab”

 

Fell followed Blue out of Undyne’s house.  He never thought he would just walk out of there. He put a hand on Blue’s shoulder.  They both disappeared into the dark recess of Waterfall.  

 

Alphys went to the liquor cabinet and took out a couple of bottles and glasses.  She shakily pour two servings. Then pulled a chair back right side up and sat down with her arms crossed on top of the dining table. After a few minutes, she heard somebody stumble into the room.  

 

“WHERE ARE THEY!!???” demanded Undyne.  

 

Alphys looked up from her arms.  “They’re gone. I never expected the little runt’s magic to overflow like that”  She examined Undyne.  Her hp was down by one third, and she looked bruised and exhausted.  She was otherwise, fine.  Alphys allowed herself a little sigh of relief.

 

“GODDAMIT!!” roared Undyne summoning a spear.  “I’LL HUNT THEM DOWN”

 

“Don’t bother” said Alphys pushing one of the glasses she had poured towards Undyne  “They will show up at my lab and we’ll get them then”  

 

“HOW do you know that?”  asked Undyne slumping into another chair and releasing her spear magic.  

 

“Because, Papyrus has no other choice”  

 

**********  


	19. EXP

It was time to decide.   **  
**

Go back to Snowdin. Go through the portal and return Blue home.  Perhaps in that perfect world there was a way to restore his core.  For him to live without DT.  Fell would then return to Underfell.  Destroy the portal behind him and… he didn’t know.

The other option was to take Alphys’ offer. Go to her lab before they ran out of DT and work out a “deal”  Fell was 99% sure he wouldn’t like it.  But it would be the more immediate and sure solution.   

 _"A couple of hours, if he doesn’t keep using his magic"_. She had said.

That meant that at best they had overnight to make final decision, if he used up all the DT they had ... and he didn’t have any.  No, this was insane.  Even if, somehow, he managed to keep Blue from overexerting himself and could maybe prolong the time between injections to maybe a couple hours more, that was still a big amount of DT.  Blue was already showing signs of his mind being affected.  Was it…  Was it worth it?  Was it worth him going insane in exchange for surviving?  


Kill or be Killed.

_“That’s horrible”_

Fell had a decision to make and he knew that no matter which one it was, it would be that the cost would take away everything he knew.  

********

As before, he kept them away from the main roads.  Blue ran in front of him and kept walking backwards to make sure his brother was listening to him.   One moment he acted like he had never seen Echo flowers before, while in the next he gave Fell a long and detailed explanation about how it was that certain mushrooms could glow in the dark.  Fell kept asking Blue to be careful and keep an eye out, but the small skeleton seemed to be in his own world stopping often to admire inane things.  

“Now that we’re free, we can go anywhere!” Blue said happily “Let’s go to the MTT Resort!  I wonder if they have nice cream there.  I bet they do!  What do you think Fell?”

Fell didn’t respond.  He thought he heard a twig snap nearby.  

“FELLl!” Blue yelled happily even though Fell was right behind him.  

Fell felt his sentry instincts flare up and shushed him rather harshly, while looking around for other monsters that may have heard them.  “Be quiet!”

Blue covered slapped his hands on the sides of his head and fell onto his knees.  “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  Please don’t hit me” He mumbled.  

Fell took a step back startled at his reaction.  He remembered hitting Blue before … it hadn’t been that hard … it had only been to teach him to … it hadn’t been THAT hard … he….just didn’t listen.  Sans didn’t …

Shit.

He kneeled down on one knee.  “I’m … sorry”  He said.  What could he possibly say?  It sounded so hollow, so a little too late, coming from him.  

“Just be quiet .. ok?  We don’t want to be spotted”  he added quietly.  He looked around some more but didn’t see any signs of other monsters.   “Hey, how are you feeling?  Maybe we can stop for a bit”

Blue looked up and lowered his hands slowly.  His eye lights were dimmer than they were before.  His left eye was practically gone.  “I am tired”  

“Ok”  Fell grabbed Blue’s hand and pulled him to his feet.  “Let’s go into that cave there.  We’ll have some rest then we’ll go get some food”  

“I’m not hungry” declared Blue sullenly but followed Fell anyway.

Fell was reminded of a kid Red.  Whenever he was mad, he would refuse to eat.  It was a self defeating situation of course, eventually he gave up on whatever was pissing him off and eat whatever Fell had left on the table for him.  Sometimes, a day or two later.  He grew out of it and just didn’t get pissed off anymore … or …

Maybe he was just pissed off all the time.

Fell grunted to himself.  Maybe he should throw himself of that bridge as well.  Do everybody a favor.

They settle down inside the cave.  It was not ideal but it allow for them to rest out of the view of other passing monsters.   Blue plopped down immediately with a big yawn and rubbed his eyes.   Fell sat down next to him and rubbed his arm bones.  He wished he had been able to retrieve his jacket before they left.   He reached into his pocket carefully and pulled out the vials and syringe.   

He noticed that Blue was following his every move with his eyes, as he rested his head on his knees.  Unlike the first time he had seen him with DT, he didn’t look afraid nor worried.  Just vaguely interested..  

“DT is made from the remnants of the souls of human children that fell into the Underground” he said in a monotone, as if he was reading it from somewhere.  “At least the original version was”

Fell looked at the vials then back at Blue.  “What do you mean “original version”?

Blue yawned again.  “When we first made DT there were seven of us.  Now there’s dozens of us.  THAT…” he lifted a finger in the direction of the vials “THAT contains very little of us”

“Us?”

“Yes …” Blue closed his eyes.  

“Who… who’s us?”  

Blue opened his eyes.  There were no eye lights in them.  “Us. The ones that had their souls stolen, so now we take souls to keep us whole”

Blue blinked and his eye lights were back.  He looked at Fell with eyes heavy with the want to sleep.   “But we’re not hungry now”  

Fell recoiled at Blue’s statements.  He put the vials down on the ground and hesitantly put a shaky hand on the younger skeleton’s shoulder.  

“What … what is your name?”  

Blue whined at the question and looked away from him.  

“Please, just tell me your name….” insisted Fell, fear tingling through every bone in his body.  

“Blue” answered Blue annoyed.  

“That’s not your name ….” corrected Fell.  

“IT IS!” exclaimed Blue burying his face behind his legs.  

“Your name is Sans!” Fell insisted.  He grabbed and shook the smaller skeleton’s shoulder.  “It’s Sans!”

Blue rocked back and forth.   “Shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!”  He looked up and his left eye was glowing a fierce blue.  ‘STOP. SOUNDING. LIKE. HIM!!”

Fell felt his soul turn blue.  “No! Sans, I mean, Blue! Don’t! Don’t use your magic!”

Blue lifted his command hand but stopped suddenly.  He yelped and covered his face.  His magic faded as suddenly as it had manifested.  “It … hurts”  He declared grabbing at his soul.  “Fell, please … please help me, brother!”  

Fell reached for a vial and filled the syringe with practiced ease.  He then reached out for one of Blue’s arms and coaxed the shaking limb to extend.   He hovered the needle an inch about the arm bone.  

A decision.

He looked at what Blue … Sans … had become.   Would he ever be same as before?  The trusting, loving and optimistic fool he had known?  Would he ever be able to repair all the damage he had done to him?  Could he ever be forgiven?  God. He could feel his whole body shaking.  

He could … let him go.  He use a well placed bone attack and take him out his misery in seconds.   

His suffering would end.  Just like his brother’s.  

A hard decision.   

Tears fell unto Blue’s arm bone.   Blue looked up at Fell confused.  

A decision had been made.  

.

..

…

Kill or be Killed.


	20. END

Papyrus couldn't believe it. His baby brother wasn't here either!

They had been lucky to be able to convince Underfell’s Riverperson to take them to Waterfall without trouble.  They had just wanted gold,  like their own world's Riverperson.  They didn't care one bit who they were or why they were there. The only difference had been that they loved quoting cryptic poems about death and destruction and, for some reason, hell puppies.

After reaching Waterfall, it had been short and quick travel to that world's Undyne House.  Papyrus had expected more trouble getting there, especially after hearing Red talk about how Undyne was big on "Protocol" and "Security"  but the few sentries they came across had been easily avoided.  They kept hearing snippets of hushed rumors among the civilian monsters they came across about something big happening at Undyne’s Stronghold.   Each comment added something equally incredible to the next and the Underswap trio didn't know what to believe anymore.   

They kept to the shadows as they approached the house.  Two wary looking Great Dog guards stood outside.  They looked confused and banged up and were quietly waving their tails to each other.

At first, Papyrus thought he had been imagining things but, the closer they got the more undeniable it became: There were traces of blue magic. A lot of it had been used recently.   Usually, Papyrus wouldn't have even noticed it, but in this world, that kind of magic stuck out like a sore thumb.  Like laughter at a funeral.

Maybe it wasn’t his brother’s magic.  Maybe it was someone else’s, but he had yet to see signs of any other kind of magic beyond Red and elemental magic. And it was just too much of a coincidence that the one place they expected to find Fell and Sans, was showing signs of it being used.

He could see fading trails of it coming out of the house. Why would Sans use that much magic?  Even if he had to defend himself against several opponents, he was a very skilled and efficient magic user.  He had to be with his HP limitation.  He wouldn't just output magic wastefully like that.  Unless ... unless he had been in some kind of a panic. In fear for someone’s life or … his own.  

He HAD TO find him.  

 

* * *

 

 

One of the trails led away from the house back into the Waterfall swamp lands, causing more questions to nag at Papyrus.  

“Sans was definitely here” declared Alphys. Papyrus looked at her, and realized that she and Undyne were watching the dog guards intently. Then he remembered that Great Dog monsters tended to prefer to talk to each other in a language that involved a lot of ear twitching and tail wagging. Both Alphys and Undyne were fairly familiar with it.  

“Th- they are talking about a small bone monster” Undyne said in response to Papyrus inquisitive look.  “They are scared of him and hope that … Undyne … their Undyne … (impatient head nod from Papyrus) uh ok, they hope that she doesn’t send them out to hunt them down”

“Them…” repeated Papyrus significantly.  

“Yes…” said Alphys crouching back down so she was head level with everyone else.  “He’s with Fell (the big bone monster)”

Papyrus didn’t know what he was expecting. For Sans to be by himself?  He felt a surge of renewed anger when he heard Fell’s name.  Of course he was with Sans.

“We … we’re close…” reassured Undyne.  “I’m sure you can feel it more than we can.  This place stinks of Blue magic.  It’s practically gone now but because of the fact that we could still feel it when we got there … I would say whatever happened here, it happened very recently … half an hour … forty minutes at the most”

Half an hour.  He had missed Sans by half an hour.  He got up careful of not being seen by the guard dogs and indicated his companions to do the same.   “I think I know where they went”.

********

He had never been a huge fan of Waterfall’s swamp areas back home.   He was much less so here in Underfell.  It was an eerily noisy and quiet place at the same time.  All they could hear was the quiet but constant growls and snapping of wild creatures.  There was no real air currents unless you were close to one of the many waterfalls that gave the place it’s name.  Humidity hung thick and still, clinging to every part of your body.  

They only had a general direction to go by.  There were no more magic trails to follow. Papyrus tried to think the way Fell would.  If he was trying to keep them out of sight, he would stick to the higher grasses and thicker overgrowth.  They still didn’t know where they were going though.  Snowdin was in a completely different direction if Fell was trying to get them back home, but the skeleton might be taking a very roundabout way.

…. Or maybe they were lost.  Maybe Fell was going insane and Sans was trying to help him.  That’s the only way Papyrus could explain Fell’s actions in his head.  Hurting and kidnapping Sans.  Allowing other monsters to harass Red. Making it (because it HAD TO be his fault) so Red would want to ... kill himself.  Putting his brother’s dust in a box …. Even the monsters of this world felt he was out of control.  That Grillby had said that Undyne felt that he needed to be “dealt with”.

It would be so much like his brother to stick by Fell if he felt he could help him.  Never mind that he had been physically attacked by him.  Papyrus didn’t want to think about the traces of DT they had found where Sans had possibly been kept captive.  Maybe Sans was just fine.  They might be confusing something else with DT.   The traces of blue magic gave him a small measure of hope.  If Sans was able to use his magic so liberally, he had to be ok.  He had to.

Undyne and Alphys walked ahead of him, being able to read the terrain and track better than he could.  He was grateful to have such good friends sticking by him like this.  He knew that if had been by himself, he probably still be in Snowdin probably having his bony ass kicked by that purple Grillby.    He grimaced.  His back pain was starting to come back full force, making his legs shake, but he refused to even consider stopping to take a rest.  

_“What is this thing?”_

Papyrus stopped dead in his tracks.  That was Sans voice.  

Alphys stood by a small grouping of Echo flowers. She touched it’s petals again. _“What is this thing?”_

Sans sounded happy, even giddy.  Papyrus covered his mouth to keep from crying out.   _He had been here._

“That’s st-strange” said Undyne.  “Why would he ask what an Echo flower is?”

Alphys looked at her equally confused and reached for another Echo flower.   _“That’s an Echo flower”_ they heard Fell say _“C’mon, let’s go”_  He sounded annoyed but his voice had been very quiet.

Undyne was right.  Why would Sans be asking what an Echo flower was? He knew what they were.  He loved leaving encouraging messages on them whenever they visited their own Waterfall area.  

_He had to be ok._

Papyrus walked ahead of Alphys and touched the next couple of flowers.  These were silent.   _Dammit._ He ripped them out of the ground.  

“Paps!” exclaimed Undyne “Calm down!  She noticed his shaking and softened her voice “Maybe … maybe they went that way” she said pointing to another group of flowers surrounded by glowing mushrooms.

“Yeah … yeah, that makes sense if they are going to the Hotlands” pointed out Alphys.  

“Yeah!” agreed Undyne and ran over to the group she had pointed out and touched the nearest one’s petals.

 _“The mushrooms in Waterfall evolved the ability to glow in the dark in order to attract insects to spread their spores.”_  It was Sans voice again.  This time it was very matter of fact, practically monotone.  It was almost unrecognizable.

Undyne looked a little taken aback.  Papyrus and Alphys caught up to her and Papyrus practically slapped every flower in the group.  They all repeated Sans reciting facts about mushrooms as if he was reading from a book.  What had changed in between the few paces from the first group of flowers and this one?  Papyrus grabbed at his chest.   _What if… what if…._

He started running.  Undyne and Alphys called after him.  His legs protested and threatened to collapse under him, but he couldn’t stop.  Half an hour … 40 minutes … _so close, so close._

He saw another group of flowers.  He ran up to them and shakily touched their petals.  

 _“FELL!”_ Sans voice was happy again.  He sounded like his regular old self.

He touched the next one.   _“Be quiet!”_ He heard Fell yell.  

Papyrus growled, and he turned to the next flower.

_“I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  Please don’t hit me”_

He felt as if every single bit of living magic had left his body.  He fell to his knees.  His brother sounded so desperate, so fearful.  His voice tore at him, scarring him with guilt and regret.  

He felt Undyne hug him from behind.  He patted her hand as a quiet “thank you”.  

“I’ll break every bone in his body” said Alphys commanding both their attention.   The gentle captain of the guard was not known for making idle threats.  She could and would destroy anybody that messed with her friends.   

“Only after I’m done with him”  said Papyrus wiping a couple of tears away with his sleeve.

“Then you better leave me something” she said helping him and Undyne back up.

She saw that there were a couple of more flowers.  She looked over at Papyrus asking for permission.  Papyrus nodded and braced himself.  

 _“I'm… sorry”_ They heard Fell say. They all exchanged looks confused.  Fell continued saying something but it had been too quiet for them to make out.  There were no more flowers nearby.

Without saying anything else, the group pressed on keeping an eye out for more flowers, or other clues.  They had barely walked a couple of yards, however, when Alphys stopped the group.

Are those caves? She pointed to her right.

“Yes” said Undyne.  Her eyes better suited for Waterfalls dim light.

“I guess they wouldn't go there if Fell wants to get to the Hotlands quickly” Alphys mused.  

“Let's just go then!” said Papyrus.

The group started walking away when they heard yelling coming from one of the caves.

“SANS!” shouted Papyrus recognizing the voice. 

Another burst of blue magic.  

He started running in the direction of the yelling.  He stumbled and started to fall.  His fall was stopped by Alphys scooping him up and carrying him over her shoulder as she raced towards the same magic signature.  

Suddenly, the magic signature was completely gone.  

_Oh no.  Oh no._

“Which cave?”  asked Undyne as the got closer. Alphys let Papyrus down and he scanned the area, looking  -pleading- for any sign.  

“SANS!” he yelled.  After getting no response.  He just chose the biggest looking one and ran for that one.  

As he reached the mouth of it, he heard sobbing.  

“SANS!” he shouted as he ran inside.  Followed closely by Alphys and Undyne.

He wasn’t prepared for what he saw.  

Fell sat on the ground with his hand over his mouth.  Red tears flowed from his eyes.  He was the one sobbing.  In his other arm he held Sans.  His eyes were closed.

“FELL!” he growled with a voice dripping with hatred.  “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY BROTHER”

Fell looked at him as if he had just noticed Papyrus coming into the cave.  He looked down at Sans and wiped his eyes quickly.  “I’m sorry” he said quietly.  

Papyrus started reaching out for both of them but stopped when he noticed that Fell was maneuvering to get up while still holding Sans.  “I’m sorry” he repeated.

Fell faced Papyrus with tormented eyes and handed over Sans to him.  Papyrus was so startled by the sudden surrender, that he almost dropped his little brother.  His weight in his arms almost didn’t feel real.  After all this time … really, this easy?

He concentrated on his brother’s stats.   His hp was full.  He was just sleeping. 

He.  Was. Just. Sleeping.     

“SANS…!”  he exclaimed into his brother’s chest.  His knees gave out and he just dissolved into embracing him and soaking his tattered shirt in relieved tears.  Behind him, he could hear Alphys and sniffling equally relieved.

A clinking sound brought him back to reality.  He opened his eyes and saw an empty vial and syringe next to Fell’s boot.

“He’s no longer your brother” said Fell solemnly.

“What the fuck is your problem?” said Papyrus..  

“Paps…” said Undyne and she kneeled next to Papyrus and Sans.  Alphys stepped around them and put herself in between Fell and her group.  

However, Fell didn’t look like he wanted to fight. In fact, he didn’t look like he wanted to do anything.  He just stood there looking at Sans expectantly.    

Undyne checked Sans arms and saw the point of injection, then at the empty vial, a few red drops inside of it.  “Paps … “ she said swallowing hard “He gave him DT”

“I had to ..” said Fell.   He reached inside his pant’s pocket and brought out the remaining vials.  “He needs this”

Papyrus stared at the vials with growing horror.  “WHY?!”  

“His core….” he heard Undyne gasp  “It’s gone”  

Alphys slammed Fell into the cave’s wall.   “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?”

Papyrus stared at Undyne with frightened eyes.  His core?  “How can he …”

“I was weak” said Fell.  He could only stare at the floor.  

Alphys held unto him fighting back the urge to just snap his arms off. “I WON’T ASK AGAIN THIS NICELY, WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?”

.

..

...

“So noisy”

Everybody went quiet.  Sans stirred in Papyrus’ arms.  He yawned and rubbed his eyes with his free arm.  He looked up at Papyrus.  

“Who are you?” he asked tiredly.

“S.. SANS?” sputtered Papyrus.

“OH … you’re Sans” said Sans “Fell kept saying that was MY name. He can be so silly… HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY BROTHER?”

Alphys looked at Sans dumbly.  Sans struggled against Papyrus hold.  “YOU … YOU LET HIM GO RIGHT NOW!” His left eye flared up.

“Blue” said Fell raising a hand “Calm down. She’s … she’s just saying hello.  Right?  Hello?”  He waved at Alphys.  She let him go and waved back still very confused.  

“That’s a weird way of saying “hello”” said Sans instantly calming down.  He continue pushing away from Papyrus, who in turn was trying his damnest to hold on to his younger brother.  “Hey, let go.  Are you saying “Hello” too?”

“SANS, no…” said Papyrus “You’re not well”

“I’m fine!” exclaimed Sans “Stop calling us that!”

The small skeleton pushed harder forcing himself out of Papyrus’ grip and almost falling into Undyne.  He managed to roll onto his rear away from both of them at the last moment.

“Oh, you look familiar” he said to Undyne. He grinned.  “We ate all your candy”

Undyne opened her mouth but caught herself in time to stop Papyrus from attempting to grab Sans again.  “Oh … oh that.. That’s fine.  Maybe we can get more candy to-together?”

“Ooooh” said Sans and clapped his hands.

“Sans…” insisted Papyrus.

“His name is Blue” said Fell.  It wasn’t a demand or a correction.  It sounded more like a caution.  “He … prefers Blue”

“Blue …” repeated Papyrus glaring at Fell.  He remembered Red calling his brother that a few times.   He had not minded at the time.   In fact, Sans loved the nickname.   Now, however, it might as well have been an epitaph.  He got up and walked over to Sans, he extended his right hand to him.

“C’mon.  We’re going home”  

Sans stared at his hand.

“Take my hand, bro” insisted Papyrus.  

“No”

Papyrus gritted his teeth and grabbed Sans’ arm.  “We’re GOING HOME NOW!”

“NO!” Sans snapped his arm free and ran towards Fell.  He hid behind him, glaring at everybody else.  “LEAVE US ALONE!”

Papyrus mouth hung open.   He was breathing hard, on the verge of tears.  His face had a pale orange color.  He looked at his empty hand then at Fell.  What is going on? His eyes screamed.  

Fell couldn’t look at him.   He fought the urge to just walk out with Blue.  The small skeleton had made HIS decision.

He had a loyal brother that would stay by his side for as long as he lived.

For better or for worse.  He had won.

He was so weak.  So Foolish.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Blue” he said carefully as he turned to face him  “I think you should go with them”

Sans eye lights flicked to him then to the group, then back to him.  

“Stop calling him that….” thought Papyrus trembling in rage.

“I think… they’ll be able to help you” continued Fell trying to smile reassuringly. “You need to go with them”   

Sans looked down at the ground.  His expression unreadable.  

“C’mon Blue…”

“STOP CALLING HIM THAT!” exploded Papyrus calling forth his attack bones.  

His soul turned blue and he was expelled from the cave.  Alphys, Undyne and Fell looked at blue with his hand raised.  Blue magic crackling at his fingertips.  Before they could do anything else, he rushed past them and ran towards where Papyrus had fell.  

Papyrus got up shakily and barely had time to summon at bone barrier before a barrage of bones reached him.  

“SANS! WHY!?” he yelled as he prepared more defensive bones.  

Sans didn’t respond.  Instead he sent several rows of bones converging towards Papyrus’ location.  He teleported out of the way as they exploded on contact.  

This wasn’t like Sans’ style of fighting at all.  It was just so … wild and impulsive.  Destructive.

“BLUE!” yelled Fell running out of the cave followed by Alphys and Undyne.  “BLUE STOP IT!”

Sans ignored him and chased after Papyrus .  New bones already manifesting along side him.

“WE NEED TO STOP HIM!” said Fell to Alphys and Undyne “HE SHOULDN’T BE USING THIS MUCH MAGIC!”

“Where is his magic even coming from?” asked Undyne panicked  “He doesn’t have a core!”

“IT’S THE DT!” explained Fell “IT'S TAKING THE PLACE OF HIS MAGIC”

Undyne looked at him with wide eyes.   She had already suspected, but having it confirmed still stunned her.  She knew what that ultimately meant.

“No...”

“I was trying to give him time…” said Fell “I hoped that maybe …. No… I .. have no excuse.  I was just weak”

“YOU!” roared Alphys at Fell “YOU ARE GETTING POUNDED LATER”

She ran towards the fighting pair.  She summoned her Halberd and threw it in between them dissipating Sans latest attack.  

“STOP IT!!  BOTH OF YOU”

Both skeletons stopped to look at her.  Papyrus had not been physically ready for a fight and was breathing hard and his stance was low and weak.  Sans  was also breathing hard, but what stuck Alphys was the fierce look on his face.  His right eye light was gone.  A red substance was dripping out of the corner of his mouth.  

“Blue?” she said remembering Fell’s caution and showing her palms as a sign of not wanting to battle.  The small skeleton blinked at her and relaxed his position a little bit, recognizing the gesture but still unsure.  He sniffed.  

“We don’t want to fight you.  Paps just wants to help you.” she said calmly “He loves you”  

Sans looked towards Papyrus.  The taller skeleton looked at him pleadingly.   “I’m … I’m sorry I made you mad”  

“… I...” said Sans big tears falling down his cheeks … “Just … want to go home with my brother….”  

“And you can” said Alphys coming closer.  “Fell can come with us if … “  

Sans squeezed his eyes close and grabbed his soul.  His left hand tightened around an over sized femur bone.  

“NO!  WE…  we just want to be FREE”  he said through clenched teeth.  Alphys stopped approaching.  Papyrus raised up preparing to defend himself or Alphys from another attack.  “MONSTERS KEEP GETTING IN THE WAY.  THEY KEEP HURTING US.  THEY KEEP TAKING US AWAY!!”

A massive Gaster Blaster started manifesting behind him.   Eyes glowing red.  Pointed teeth gnashing.  

“Shit!” said Fell and started running towards Sans.  “BLUE, NO!”

Papyrus abandoned his own attack and started running towards his brother as well.  

Blue screamed in pain as the Blaster fully manifested.  Papyrus fell onto his knees and hugged his brother fiercely. “Stay with me” he begged trying to be heard of the cyclone of gathering magic.

Fell summoned a bone attack. “I’m sorry I was weak.  I’ll set you free” he whispered and released his attack.  

An explosion of pure white and blue light engulfed the entire area.   Monsters natives ran away in fear for their lives.   

For one brief moment, Waterfall looked as if covered in snow.  The edges of reality flicked in and out of sight.  

Swap Undyne woke up flat on her back.  She blinked at a sky that looked like it was made of zeroes and ones.   She rubbed her eyes and when she looked again, it looked normal again.  

She felt a breeze against her skin.  That was weird.  She had never felt one in Waterfall before.   She sat up and looked around a little dazed.  Then she remembered what had just happened and panic returned to her.

“ALPHYS!”  “PAPS!”  SANS!” she called out.  Not to far away, she saw Alphys lying on her side.  She ran over and was was relieved to see the lizard warrior stirring.  

“Alphys, alphys, alphys” she said breathlessly and kissing her all over her face “I’m so happy you’re alive!”

Alphys opened her eyes, a bit more dazed herself.  “So am I?  What happened?”

“I don’t know…” said Undyne sitting up and looking around.  “Oh my gosh!”

Alphys got up and looked in the direction that Undyne was looking towards.  

In the area where she had last seen Fell, Papyrus and Sans was now covered in pure white grass.   

They saw Fell stirring and raising himself up on his elbows.  He shook his head.  

Undyne got up and helped Alphys back onto her feet.  They both rushed towards the white grass clearing.   

There they found an unconscious Papyrus lying on his side hugging Sans.

Sans was hugging back.

**********

Monsters, if you were to categorize them in really general and broad terms, were completely and undeniably:  weird.  If you were to be more specific with your terms though, - well, they would still be weird - but at least you would have a better idea of what you were dealing with.  

This was a stupid way of thinking.  

Nobody knew - be it monster or human - what was going on inside someone’s heart.  Not even themselves.  

What we show on the outside can be vastly different on what we feel inside. It's a tactical game.  We do it, because we feel we need to in order to survive.

What then, does it mean, where there is NOTHING left inside? Is it our outside a lie too?  Or is that our true self by default?

Papyrus didn’t know.    


He didn’t want to know.  

He stared at the clinic’s white walls.  He had been confined to bed ...again.   This time he didn’t fight it though.  He didn’t want to get up anyway.  

He had no memory of returning to Underswap.  Apparently Alphys had carried him and Sans all the way back and Fell had helped them find the Portal back home with no problem.  Monsters avoided them. In fact, Undyne had made comments about how the whole place felt “changed” now.    

Papyrus had his own suspicions.  It had kinda felt like a reset but not quite.  He guessed that Underfell in general was in for it own set of extreme changes soon.  

But he couldn’t care less.  

He looked over to his right.  The girls had put his things on his bedside table.  On them, placed carefully against a golden flower vase, was Red’s glove.   

He sat up and grabbed it.  He felt the fabric and the dust moving inside with his bony fingers.  

“I’m sorry Red” he said “Just wait a little longer.  I’ll find you a great place to rest”  

He sighed and put the glove back on the table.  Then he got up carefully.  His legs already felt stronger.  That was good.  He guessed.  He also guessed that he really didn’t have an excuse not to visit him.  

He took off white plain shirt he had been sleeping in and put his well loved orange hoodie back on.   He wished he still had some smokes left.  That would help.  

He paced around a little bit.  Making sure that he had his balance back and to make time.  He eventually made it to the door and then rushed back to his bed side table.  He grabbed Red’s glove and put it in his hoodie’s pocket.  For courage.

He walked into the hallway and walked down to the last door on the left.    His hand hovered over the doorknob.   Well, maybe this could wait until tomorrow.  

The door opened without him regardless, revealing an Undyne surprised by his presence.  “Oh Paps! I was about to go get you!  He’s awake”

Papyrus looked over her shoulder into the room.  On the far corner there was a bed.  Dr. Pewter was talking to the monster in the bed.  They sounded like simple questions, diagnostic questions like, “Can you move your left arm?”  That’s good.  “How about your right.  No, this is your right dear”  Great!”

The next thing he noticed, and it was the thing that made him cringe, was the big machine next to the bed.  It had been transported in a hurry via Riverperson and, put back together in a even more hurried manner by Undyne.  

A DT machine.  

They had to use Fell’s leftover vials.  One to help Sans survive and one to reproduce in her machine.  She had said that the formula had not been very refined and she had been tweaking it since.  Something milder that could be given through a dialysis process once a day to help Sans without stimulating the propensity for violence.  

Not that Sans showed any signs of feeling anything beyond very basic emotions.  

Papyrus lowered his head and whispered into Undyne’s ear.  “Does he remember?”  

Undyne shook her head and whispered back without looking at him.  “He doesn’t remember anything, but that might change.  He learned a couple of words today”  

“Might” repeated Papyrus and walked into the room.  

Dr. Pewter greeted him when he saw him and jumped off her stool to let him approach the bed.  

“Hey buddie” he greeted.

Sans was sitting up while the machine worked.  He smiled at him vaguely.  He knew this monster.  This monster was nice to him.  He made a happy sound.  

Papyrus sat on the stool.  “Undyne tells me you learned some new words today”

Sans nodded happily.  He took a deep breath and put his hand on his chest.  The happy feeling inside of him.  

“Good” he said in a husky voice.

Papyrus nodded.

Sans then pointed at him.  

“Bro...ther” he said.

Papyrus’ breath hitched.  “That’s good.  Yes,... that’s…. good” he said in between breaths.  He buried his head in the sheets next to Sans’ upper legs.  

He sobbed.

Sans blinked at him confused. He placed a hand on top of the crying skeleton’s skull and stroke it gently.  A memory of a memory.  A good gesture.

“Good brother. Good brother” he said.

*******

Epilogue

Two months later.

The thing about loss is that you can never be truly prepared for it.

You can see it coming.  

You can say: “I’m ready.  It’s time”

And pretend to accept it.  To be brave.   

But the reality is that we never truly experience loss until we come to that invisible wall in our path and realize,

It will never be again.

And despair.

And for some of us it happens immediately.  For others it may take days, weeks, years.   There is no right or wrong way to feel.  You just feel.  

And hopefully …

.

…

…

Move on.

.

..

…

….

…..

Fuck that.

Acceptance be dammed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go. Final chapter. Thank you all for all your support!!

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote most of this a few months ago. I deleted the original story but decided to revisit it. I like the Underswap and Underfell universes and consider the characters to be their own beings, rather than clones of the original Papyrus and Sans. It is confusing to write about two sets of characters that share the same names (ha ha) I tried my best to keep it as clear as possible. 
> 
> In any case, I hope you guys like it.


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